Violin Sonata in D major, Op.12, No.1

Beethoven’s first set of violin sonatas was published in 1799 as “Three Sonatas for harpsichord or forte-piano with a violin.” So it is hardly surprising that, taking the title-page description at its face value, the leading critic of the day found little pleasure in them. Beethoven had learned from Mozart’s late violin sonatas to respect the equality of the two instruments and, although this was achieved largely on a share-and-share-alike basis - material awarded to the one being conscientiously passed on to the other - the fact is that no keyboard player could do the work justice without the collaboration of an equally accomplished and equally enterprising violinist.

It is true that the opening gestures of Op 12 No 1 are no more than D major fanfare flourishes for the violin and piano in unison. But the violin immediately asserts its individuality in a sustained melodic line that it is not in the character of the piano (still less that of the harpsichord) to emulate. There is a particularly good example of duo writing in the second subject where the emotional colour of the violin part changes according to the fluctuating major and minor harmonies on the piano below it. Another striking idea is the bold chordal exchange between the two instruments. A quiet echo of it introduces the development and its reappearance in the much abbreviated recapitulation precipitates the dramatic coda.

The theme of the Andante con moto variations is conventionally presented in two parts of eight bars each, both of them played first by piano alone and repeated by violin. Basically the same structural pattern persists in each of the four variations, although they become gradually bolder in their treatment of the theme. The third variation, in the minor, is a continuous development of the first part of the theme, and the last, with its subtle division of melodic responsibility, leads directly into the inspired little coda.

Being equally well suited to piano and violin and irresistible to both, the cheerful main theme of the final Rondo quite naturally alternates between them. No other material is treated in this way. The second theme in A major is for violin only and, although the piano takes part in the thematic development of the central episode, it is the violin that introduces the new theme in F major and tilts it provocatively into G minor. At the end of the movement, violin and piano are jointly responsible for leading the main theme tonally astray and for its last-second retrieval.

Written in Vienna between 1797 and 1798 and dedicated to his mentor in vocal music, Imperial Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri, Beethoven’s first set of Violin Sonatas was published as “Three Sonatas for harpsichord or forte-piano with a violin.” So it is hardly surprising that, taking the title-page description at its face value and reviewing the pieces as keyboard sonatas with violin accompaniment, the leading critic of the day found little pleasure in them. Beethoven had learned from Mozart’s late Violin Sonatas to respect the equality of the two instruments and, although this was achieved largely on a share-and-share-alike basis - material awarded to the one being conscientiously passed on to the other - the fact is that no keyboard player could do the work justice without the collaboration of an equally accomplished and equally enterprising violinist.

The opening gestures of Op 12 No 1 are no more, it is true, than D major fanfare flourishes for the violin and piano in unison. But the violin immediately asserts its individuality in a sustained melodic line that it is not in the character of the piano, still less that of the harpsichord, to emulate. In the sharing process that follows, while the violin assumes the accompanying role, the piano replaces the sustained notes of the melody with arpeggio figuration. There is a particularly good example of duo writing in the second subject, when it eventually emerges: the emotional colour of the violin part changes according to the fluctuating major and minor harmonies on the piano below it. Another striking idea is the bold chordal exchange between the two instruments. A quiet echo of it introduces the development - which is briefly but exclusively devoted to the first subject - and its reappearance in the much abbreviated recapitulation precipitates the dramatic coda.

The slow movement, a theme and four variations in A major, anticipates a similar inspiration in the “Kreutzer” Sonata. The theme is conventionally presented in two parts of eight bars each, both of them played first by piano alone and repeated by violin. Basically the same structural pattern persists in each of the variations, although they become gradually bolder in their treatment of the theme. In the first variation, where the violin accompanies throughout, and in the second, where the role roles are reversed, the two parts are literally repeated. But the third, in the minor, is a continuous development of the first part of the theme, and the last, with its subtle division of melodic responsibility, leads directly into the inspired little coda.

The cheerful main theme of the Rondo, being equally well suited to piano and violin and irresistible to both, quite naturally alternates between them. No other material is treated in this way. The second theme in A major is for violin only and, although the piano takes part in the thematic development of the central episode, it is the violin that introduces the new theme in F major and tilts it provocatively into G minor. At the end of the movement, violin and piano are jointly responsible for leading the main theme tonally astray and for its last-second retrieval.