Violin Sonata, a composition for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, is a work of the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

(1854–1928). It was written in the summer of 1914, but it was not Janáček’s first attempt to create such a composition. He resolved to compose a violin sonata already as a student at the conservatoire in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1880, and later during his studies in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. His early sonatas are today lost.

Background

It took almost thirty-five years before Janáček returned to the composition of music for the same combination of instruments. The sonata was created in the period of composer’s marked interest in chamber music (Piano Trio (now lost), 1908, ''Pohádka'' (Fairy Tale) for cello and piano, 1910), and also at the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The composer himself remembers: ''"...in the 1914 Sonata for violin and piano I could just about hear sound of the steel clashing in my troubled head..."''. The Sonata was printed after many corrections in mid-1922 by ''Hudební matice'' in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. Its first performance was given by violinist František Kudláček with

Jaroslav Kvapil Jaroslav Kvapil (25 September 1868 – 10 January 1950) was a Czech poet, theatre director, translator, playwright and librettist. Early life, education and family Jaroslav Josef Kvapil was born on 25 September 1868 in Chudenice, into the fami ...

at the piano on 24 April 1922 at the concert of new Moravian music organized by the Young Composer’s Club in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

. The first performance abroad took place in

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in 1923. The violin part was performed by the German composer

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

Structure

#Con moto #Ballada #Allegretto #Adagio

Alternative versions

The composer gave to Kudláček certain additions that are not extant in the published score, namely, pizzicati and a

double stop In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performin ...

ped chord at the end of the trio section of the third movement. Kudláček passed these additions on to his student

Bohdan Warchal Bohdan Warchal (27 January 1930 in Orlová, Czechoslovakia – 30 December 2000 in Bratislava, Slovakia) was a Slovak violinist, a member of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra and founder, chief conductor and soloist of the Slovak Chamber Or ...

, who in turn passed them on to Oliver Butterworth, who studied the sonata with him in

in 1970. These additions are performed in Butterworth's recording of the sonata (see the list of recordings below).Robin Golding, notes to ''Bohemian Violin'' (Meridian Records, 1999), pp. 2–3.

Recordings

*Debussy, Janáček, Poulenc, Ježek: Violin Sonatas. Supraphon 1958. SU 3547-2 (Josef Suk - violin, Jan Panenka - piano) *Janáček, Brahms, Beethoven: Sonatas. Supraphon 1992. SU 3857-2 (Josef Suk - violin, Rudolf Firkušný - piano) *Janáček: Complete works for Violin, Cello and Piano. Carlton Classics 1996. 30366 00327 (Josef Suk - violin, Bohumila Jedličková - piano) *Debussy, Janáček, Prokofiev: Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Philips 1995. 446 091-2 (Viktoria Mullova - violin, Piotr Anderszewski - piano) *Janáček: Instrumental and Orchestral Works (2CD). EMI 2001. 7243 5 74844 2 8 (Pierre Amoyal - violin, Mikhail Rudy - piano) *Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Prokofiev, Strauss, Messiaen, Busoni, Bartók, Janáček: Music for violin and piano (8CD). DGG B000204802 (2004) (Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich) *Debussy, Ravel, Janáček. EMI 857082 (2004) (Frank Peter Zimmermann, Alexander Lonquich) *''Bohemian Violin: Czech Music for Violin and Piano''. Meridian Records 1999. CDE 84365 ( Oliver Butterworth, violin, and

John Bingham John Armor Bingham (January 21, 1815 – March 19, 1900) was an American politician who served as a Republican representative from Ohio and as the United States ambassador to Japan. In his time as a congressman, Bingham served as both assis ...

, piano) *Janáček, Novák, Nedbal: Violin Sonatas. Supraphon 2009. SU 3978-2 (Ivan Ženatý - violin, Martin Kasík - piano)

References

*Janáček, Leoš: ''Skladby pro housle a klavír''. Urtext. Score and parts. Editio Bärenreiter Praha 2007. BA 9508

External links

Janáček's Chamber works info
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Violin Sonata (Janacek) 1914 compositions Chamber music by Leoš Janáček Janacek