Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 08/06/2014, uploaded on 01/01/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

This work is the first of three violin sonatas from Beethoven’s Opus 12 set. It was written in 1797/1798 and dedicated to Antonio Salieri with whom he studied. The classical violin sonata started to change with Mozart’s sonatas composed in Paris during the late 1770’s.  The violin line became more independent and indispensable. 

The work opens boldly in unison (both the piano and the violin playing the same material simultaneously), quickly feeding into a songful tune, first played by the violin then by the piano.  The next part, quite unusually for a middle section of a movement, is in a different key signature (F major), which starts off in piano dynamic.  The section is not long, and the music returns triumphantly to that of the opening of the work.  The second movement is a set of four variations on a theme in A major. The theme has two subjects: each is first introduced by the piano and accompanied by the violin and immediately following, the roles are reversed. The last movement, is a rondo in 6/8 time. The theme incorporates offbeat sforzandos and slightly syncopated characteristics that were to become more prominent in Beethoven's later works. The middle section, as in the first movement, is in F major. Throughout, the piano and the violin exchange roles, but never lose the dance-like quality filled with happiness.       Sergej Bolkhovets

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.