The Violin Sonata No. 1 in
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable compositi ...
,
Op. 78, "''Regensonate''", for
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
was composed by
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
during the summers of 1878 and 1879 in
Pörtschach am Wörthersee
Pörtschach am Wörthersee ( sl, Poreče) is a municipality in the district of Klagenfurt-Land District, Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia (state), Carinthia, Austria. It is an established summer Resort town, resort and lakeside town on Wörthersee.
...
. It was first performed on 8 November 1879 in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
, by the husband and wife Robert Heckmann (violin) and Marie Heckmann-Hertig (piano).
Structure
Each of the three
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
of this
sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
shares common
motivic ideas or thematic materials from the principal motif of Brahms's two songs "''Regenlied''" and "''Nachklang''", Op. 59, and this is why this sonata is also called the "Rain Sonata" (''Regensonate'').
The first movement, ''
Vivace
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
ma non troppo'' is written in
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 ...
in
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable compositi ...
; the second movement, ''Adagio'' – ''Più andante'' – ''Adagio'', is an expanded
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 ...
in
E major
E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...
, and the third movement, ''Allegro molto moderato'' is 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 ...
in
G minor
G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major.
According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...
with
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 ...
in
G major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor.
The G major scale is:
Notable compositi ...
. The
dotted rhythm motif from the two songs is not only directly quoted as a leading
theme
Theme or themes may refer to:
* Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work
* Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos
* Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...
in the third movement of this sonata but also constantly appearing as fragmented rhythmic motif throughout the all three movements of the sonata so that the entire sonata has a certain coherency. The rhythm of the rain motif appearing in the middle section of the second movement is adapted to a
funeral march. The two disruptive appearances of the main theme of the ''Adagio'' in the third movement also represent
cyclic form
Cyclic form is a technique of musical construction, involving multiple sections or movements, in which a theme, melody, or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device. Sometimes a theme may occur at the beginning and e ...
used in this sonata.
Transcriptions
Brahms arranged the sonata (in
D-major) for
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
and piano.
["Happiness Is Playing a 'Lost' Brahms Cello Sonata"]
by Harold C. Schonberg
Harold Charles Schonberg (29 November 1915 – 26 July 2003) was an American music critic and author. He is best known for his contributions in ''The New York Times'', where he was List of chief music critics, chief music critic from 1960 to 198 ...
, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', August 4, 1974 Others have also arranged it for cello and piano, including
Paul Klengel
Paul Klengel (13 May 1854 – 24 April 1935) was a German violinist, violist, pianist, conductor, composer, editor and arranger. He was the brother of cellist Julius Klengel.
Biography
Klengel was born and died in Leipzig, where he studied at t ...
(published by Simrock in 1897) and
Laszlo Varga (cello part only). Arrangements for viola and piano have also be made, including by Leonard Davis, Csaba Erdélyi, and Thomas Riebl
[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1114206383].
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Violin Sonata No. 1 (Brahms)
Chamber music by Johannes Brahms
Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 1
1879 compositions
Compositions in G major