The Violin Sonata No. 1 in

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed for t ...

, Op. 75, was written by

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

in October 1885. Dedicated to

Martin Pierre Marsick Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick (9 March 1847, in Jupille-sur-Meuse – 21 October 1924, in Paris), was a Belgian violin player, composer and teacher. His violin was made by Antonio Stradivari in 1705 and has since become known as the Ex Marsick St ...

, it was premiered on 9 January 1886 in Paris. The sonata has been called one of Saint-Saëns' neglected masterpieces.

History

The violin sonata was a form Saint-Saëns was familiar with: he had completed a Violin Sonata in B major in 1842 – when he was just six years old – and abandoned another Violin Sonata in F major dating from around 1850–1851 after the second movement. These juvenile works remained unpublished until 2021. In August 1885, Saint-Saëns wrote to his publisher Durand that he intended to compose a "grand duo for piano and violin" in time for a planned tour of England. By 13 October, the sonata was completed, and he received a considerable fee of 1,200 francs. It was premiered four days later in Huddersfield by the composer and Otto Peiniger and repeated in Leeds and London. The work was dedicated to

, a violinist and professor at the Paris Conservatoire, to commemorate their tour of Switzerland. The first performance in Paris was given by Saint-Saëns and Marsick on 9 January 1886 at the chamber music society La Trompette, which Saint-Saëns frequented.

Structure

The sonata consists of four movements in two sections; the first and second as well as the third and forth movements are joined together (''attacca''). Saint-Saëns had used this form – a fast opening movement leading into a slow movement, followed by a scherzo and a finale – in his fourth piano concerto before, and would use it again in his third symphony. The playing time of the sonata is around 21 minutes.

Legacy

In a letter to Durand on 18 November 1885, Saint-Saëns remarked on the sonata's technical difficulty, suggesting that only a legendary creature would be able to master the final movement: "I wonder with terror what this sonata will become under the bow of my no less ordinary than extraordinary violinists; it will be called the ' hippogriff sonata'". He was convinced that "its moment of glory has begun" and that "all the violinists will seize on it, from one end of the earth to the other". Saint-Saëns would later refer to the work as a "concert sonata", and his biographers have compared it to Beethoven's ''Kreutzer Sonata''. It quickly gained popularity, and Saint-Saëns himself included it often in his own concerts. It was also promoted by pianists including Louis Diémer,

Raoul Pugno Stéphane Raoul Pugno (23 June 1852) was a French composer, teacher, organist, and pianist known for his playing of Mozart's works. Biography Raoul Pugno was born in Paris and was of Italian origin. He made his debut at the age of six, and with t ...

and

Édouard Risler Joseph-Édouard Risler (23 February 1873 – 22 July 1929) was a French pianist. Biography Risler was born in Baden-Baden (Germany) of a German mother and an Alsatian father. He studied under Louis Diémer, Théodore Dubois and Émile Decomb ...

, and by violinists such as Eugène Ysaÿe and Jacques Thibaud. The work would later inspire

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

, who mentions it in ''

Jean Santeuil ''Jean Santeuil'' () is an unfinished novel written by Marcel Proust. It was written between 1896 and 1900, and published after the author's death. The first French edition was published in 1952 by Gallimard. The first English version, translated ...

'', written in the 1890s. It appears to be related to the fictional

Vinteuil Sonata The Vinteuil Sonata is a fictional musical work described in the novel sequence ''In Search of Lost Time'' by Marcel Proust. The sonata features mainly in the section '' Un amour de Swann''. The character Charles Swann associates a musical phrase ...

in the novel ''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

''. The work was arranged for cello and piano by Ferdinando Ronchini (1911), and for harp and violin by Clara Eissler (1907). Jeremy Nicholas has called the first violin sonata a neglected masterpiece, alongside the Septet and the Piano Quartet.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Violin Sonata No. 1 (Saint-Saëns) Chamber music by Camille Saint-Saëns Saint-Saëns 1885 compositions Compositions in D minor Music with dedications