The Sonata No. 1 for Piano in

F-sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). T ...

, Op. 24, No. 1, is a

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...

by the Romanian composer

George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher. Regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history, Enescu is featured on the Romanian five lei. Biog ...

, completed in 1924.

History

On 18 July 1912 Enescu completed an Allegro movement for a piano sonata in F-sharp minor, which he played to Herbert Peyser later that summer in connection with an interview. In a heavily reworked form, this would become the first movement of the Sonata, Op. 24, No. 1. However, Enescu set aside this project for twelve years, resuming work again only in 1924. The early version of this movement was only rediscovered in 1993, by the musicologist Clemansa Liliana Firca. Enescu took up the sonata again in July 1924 in Tețcani, completely rewriting the first movement and adding the other two, completing the work in

Sinaia Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named after t ...

on 27 August 1924. The score was written for and is dedicated to the Swiss pianist

Emil Frey Emil Johann Rudolf Frey (24 October 1838 – 24 December 1922) was a Swiss politician, Union Army soldier in the American Civil War and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1890–1897). He served as President of the Swiss Confederation in ...

, who had been court pianist in Bucharest from 1907 until the outbreak of World War I. In an interview given shortly after completing the score, Enescu admitted, The first performance was given in November 1925 by the composer himself, in a concert that was part of a festival dedicated to his chamber-music works, organized by the Society of Romanian Composers at the Mic Theatre in Bucharest. He also performed the work in Paris for the first time in April 1926, as part of a concert given by the

Société Nationale de Musique Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

Analysis

The Sonata is in three movements, whose moderate–fast–slow pattern resembles that of Enescu's Third Symphony. * Allegro molto moderato e grave * Presto vivace * Andante molto espressivo The first movement is in an extremely free

sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...

(though the composer himself declined to characterize it this way). There are two major deviations from the usual sonata design. First, the

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped *Photographi ...

begins in the home key of F-sharp minor, while the recapitulation begins in the most distant possible key of C minor, a

tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...

away from the overall tonic. Second, the sense of arrival of the recapitulation is divided in two by this fact, in that the return of the main theme is separated from the reappearance of its home tonality. The

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

of the movement takes on the character of a

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin The ter ...

, a feature first noted by the composer

Anatol Vieru Anatol Vieru (; 8 June 1926 – 8 October 1998) was a Romanian-Jewish music theoretician, pedagogue, and composer. A pupil of Aram Khachaturian, he composed seven symphonies, eight string quartets, concertos, and chamber music. He also wrote t ...

. The second movement opens with a gradual accumulation of voices, at first suggesting a fugal exposition with a first answer at the interval of a tritone, but lacking a countersubject. Its

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

scherzando A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mu ...

character, contrasting with the dark quality of the first movement, resembles those toccatas revived in the music of

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, or the neoclassical, motoric style adopted in the early twentieth century by composers like

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer ...

. Some other passages resemble the diatonicism of Stravinsky’s

Piano Sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...

, which was composed slightly later, in the summer and autumn of 1924. The movement does not adhere to any conventional formal scheme and is built economically from a very small number of elements. Although the second theme returns several times, suggesting a

rondo The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

form, the recurrences are subject to variations. The most striking of these variants is in a

limping A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma; however, in the absence ...

5/4 meter, reminiscent of folk dances such as the ''șocâcili'' from

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

, the ''ghimpele'', and ''șobolanul'' from

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

and

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

, and the ''hodoroaga'' from the

Ardeal Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

regions.

Myriam Marbe Miriam () is a feminine given name recorded in Biblical Hebrew, recorded in the Book of Exodus as the name of the sister of Moses, the prophetess Miriam. Spelling variants include French ''Myriam'', German ''Mirjam, Mirijam''; hypocoristic for ...

finds that this movement’s spontaneity and exuberant character suggests, through its pulsating motion, a surging crowd at a public celebration, in a stylized manner similar to the one Stravinsky creates in ''

Petrushka Petrushka ( rus, Петру́шка, p=pʲɪtˈruʂkə, a=Ru-петрушка.ogg) is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry. Italian puppeteers introduced it in the first third of the 19th century. While most core characters came from Italy ...

''. In an interview with

Bernard Gavoty Bernard Georges-Marie Gavoty (2 April 1908 – 24 October 1981) was a 20th-century French organist, musicologist, music critic, and talk show host. Biography Bernard Gavoty was born in 1908 to Raymond Gavoty (a deputy of the Var department; 11 Ma ...

broadcast by the French Radio on 25 January 1952, Enescu played part of the finale of this First Piano Sonata as an example of a musical transposition of the atmosphere of the

Romanian Plain The Romanian Plain ( ro, Câmpia Română) is located in southern Romania and the easternmost tip of Serbia, where it is known as the Wallachian Plain ( sr, Vlaška nizija/Влашка низија). Part of the historical region of Wallachia, it ...

at night.( The movement begins evocatively with a single repeated note in an irregular rhythm, whose gentle accents eventually produce the distant signal of a rising minor third, from which the first motif gradually emerges. Hesitant motivic statements separated by long pauses produce a characteristic "spatial poetry" for this movement, which is one of the most striking features of the Enescian style. As with the second movement, the form of the finale is difficult to assign to a conventional model. It may be interpreted as a

ternary form Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form consisting of an opening section (A), a following section (B) and then a repetition of the first section (A). It is usually schematized as A–B–A. Prominent examples includ ...

, or else as a modified sonata-allegro.

Discography

* George Enescu: Suita nr. 2 pentru pian în re major, op. 10; Sonata nr. 1 pentru pian în fa diez minor, op. 24. Li-min-Cean, piano (Op. 10); Maria Fotino, piano (Op. 24 No. 1). LP recording, 1 disc: analog, 33⅓ rpm, monaural, 12 in. Electrecord ECE 025. Bucharest: Electrecord, 196?. * George Enescu: Sonata nr. 1 pentru pian în fa diez minor, op. 24, nr. 1; Sonata nr. 3 pentru pian în re major, op. 24, nr. 3. Maria Fotino, piano. Recorded October 1980, Studioul de la Casa Scinteii. LP recording, 1 disc: analog, 33⅓ rpm, stereo, 12 in. Electrecord ST-ECE 01691. Bucharest: Electrecord,

981 Year 981 ( CMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events Births * Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, Arab statesman (d. 1027) * Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian ...

* George Enescu: Sonate für Klavier fis-moll op. 24/1; Sonate für Klavier und Violoncello op. 26/2; Rapsodia Romina für Klavier, op. 11/1. Lory Wallfisch, piano;

Julien Musafia Julien Musafia (1925 – November 14, 2015) was an American pianist and musicologist. He was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1925. After an adventurous escape from his native country, he moved to the United States in 1950, where he attended the Uni ...

, piano (Op. 11, No. 1); Julius Berger, cello (Op. 26, No. 2). Recorded. 25–27 October 1993, in the Konzerthaus, Kronberg/Taunus. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. EBS 6043. Bietigheim-Bissingen: EBS Records, 1995. * ''Enesco: Œuvres pour piano''. Cristian Petrescu, piano. Recorded by

Sender Freies Berlin Sender Freies Berlin (; abbreviated SFB ; ) was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003. On 1 May 2003 it merged with Ostde ...

, July 1994 and March 1995. CD recording, 3 discs: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Accord 476 2394 (476 2395; 476 2396; 476 2397). Universal Classics France, 1998. * ''Romania''. Dana Ciocarlie piano. Recorded April 2000, Salle Guillaume Farel, Marseille. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Empreinte Digitale ED 13122. Marseille, France: L'empreinte digitale, 2000. * ''Raluca Stirbat Plays Enescu, Silvestri, Constantinescu, Rachmaninoff/Kreisler''. Raluca Stirbat, piano. Enescu’s Sonata No. 1 recorded April 2004 at Schweizer Radio DRS Studio Zurich. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Gramola 98905. Vienna: Gramola, 2011. * Enescu: Piano Music, Vol. 2: Piano Sonata No. 1; Piano Sonata No. 2; Prelude and Fugue in C Major; Nocturne in D-flat Major; Scherzo; ''Pièce sur la nom de Fauré'';

Luiza Borac Luiza Borac is a Romanian classical pianist. Life In 2012, Borac recorded several world premiere recordings with Jaime Martin and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields of works by the pianist and composer Dinu Lipatti. The double CD was ...

, piano. Recorded 4, 5, and 7 July 2005 at St. Dunstan's Church, Mayfield, England. SACD recording, 2 discs: digital 4¾ in., multi/hybrid. Avie AV2081. asel Pert Beratungs AG, 2006. * ''Five Sonatas: Ernesto Halffter, George Enescu, Igor Stravinsky, Leoš Jánáček''. Andrew Rangell, piano. Bridge 9205. 2006. * George Enescu: Piano Sonata No. 1; Suite No. 2; Choral; Carillon nocturne. Matei Varga, piano. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Naxos 8.572120. Naxos, 2010. * ''George Enescu: Complete Works for Piano Solo''. Raluca Stirbat, piano. Sonata recorded Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, April or June 2015. CD recording, 3 discs: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Hänssler Classic 98.060. Holzgerlingen: Hänssler Classic im SCM-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, 2015. Includes the early version (1912) of the first movement of Sonata No. 1. * ''George Enescu, Béla Bartók, Erkki-Sven Tüür''. Mihkel Poll, piano. Recorded at Sello Hall in Espoo, Finland, 12–13 October and 2–3 November 2014. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Dux 1256. Warsaw: Dux Recording Publishers, 2015. * ''Paris'' usic by Ravel, Debussy, and Enescu

Elisabeth Leonskaja Elisabeth Leonskaja (born 23 November 1945) (In Russian: Елизавета Ильинична Леонская) is a Soviet and Austrian pianist. She was born to a family of Jewish and Polish extraction living in Tbilisi, then the capital of t ...

, piano. Recorded in Berlin, Meistersaal 14–15 July 2013. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. EAS 29237. Berlin: EaSonus, 2015. * ''Enescu: Complete Works for Piano, Vol. 1''. Josu de Solaun, piano. CD recording, 1 disc: digital, 4¾ in., stereo. Grand Piano GP705. owloon City, Hong Kong HNH International Limited, 2016.

References

Cited sources

* * * * * *

External links