Violin Sonata in E flat major Op.12 No.3 (1798)

A set of sonatas dedicated by a young composer to the Imperial Kapellmeister was clearly intended not so much to defy the musical establishment in Vienna as to appeal to it. But, however hard he tried to respect convention in his first three Violin Sonatas    – which were written mainly in 1798 and published with a politically astute dedication “to F.A. Salieri” in 1799 – Beethoven could restrain neither his wit nor his imagination.

The exposition of the first movement of Op.12 No.3, for example, presents a very acceptable contrast between a brilliant first subject in E flat major and a lyrical second subject in B flat, the two of them neatly related by the melodic motif they have in common. But then there is a characteristically eccentric closing passage with grumbling staccato phrases in the left hand of the piano, a syncopated little figure in the right and a series of triplet arpeggios passing from one hand to the other. That closing material not only monopolises the development section but also supplies an unsettling variant for the violin, slowed down by rhythmic augmentation and harmonised by C flat major tremolandos on the piano, just before the start of the recapitulation.

The C-major Adagio is very acceptable too, for the most part. It floats serenely on    its melodious main theme and, though the middle section touches on a sensitive F minor area, there is nothing remotely dangerous here – until, that is, the coda, which presents an expressive scenario so dramatic that it undermines the security of the whole movement. The final Allegro molto, on the other hand, is completely reassuring, the momentum generated by the cheerful rondo theme carrying it through contrapuntal episodes which, in spite of their learned demeanour, clearly do not have to be taken very seriously.