Violin Sonata in E minor Op.82 (1918)

A violinist himself, Elgar supplemented his income early in his career by writing salon pieces for violin and piano. He was unable to complete a large-scale work for the two instruments, however, until he seriously applied himself to chamber music - writing the String Quartet in E minor and the Piano Quintet in A minor as well as the Violin Sonata in E minor - at Brinkwells in 1918. Although he was now near the end of his creative life, there is a fully characteristic vigour in the opening bars of the Violin Sonata. If parts of the first movement - like the lovely second subject and much of the development - are more ready to relax in the peace of the Sussex countryside, there are brilliant displays of energy in both the recapitulation of the first subject and, above all, in the coda.

The first section of the Romance is a strange reversion to the salon style of thirty or forty years earlier. It is delightfully scored but gives little warning of the deeply nostalgic middle section of the movement, with its sustained melodic line and passionate central climax. If there is any kind of stylistic conflict, or incongruity, it is resolved in the last movement. This is a sonata-form construction with two first-subject themes - one easily fluent in the major, one defiant in the minor - and a lyrical second subject, all of which are developed and duly recapitulated. At this point the central theme of the slow movement makes an unexpected and highly effective reappearance before the two first-subject themes are vigorously taken up again in the coda, the second of them now happily in the major.

Like Janácek, Elgar had problems with the violin sonata. Although, unlike Janácek, he was a violinist himself and had supplemented his income early in his career by writing salon pieces for violin and piano, he was unable to complete a large-scale work for the two instruments until he seriously applied himself to chamber music at Brinkwells in 1918. The Violin Sonata in E minor, the String Quartet in E minor and the Piano Quintet in A minor were all written within a few months of each other. Although he was now near the end of his creative life, there is no lack of vigour in the these works, least of all in the opening bars of the Violin Sonata. If parts of the first movement - like the lovely second subject and much of the development - are more inclined to relax in the peace of the Sussex countryside, there are brilliant displays of energy in both the recapitulation of the first subject and, above all, in the coda.

The first section of the Romance is a strange reversion to the salon style of thirty or forty years earlier. It is delightfully scored but gives little warning of the deeply nostalgic middle section of the movement, with its sustained melodic line and passionate central climax. If there is any kind of stylistic conflict, or incongruity, it is resolved in the last movement. This is a sonata-form construction with two first-subject themes - one easily fluent in the major, one defiant in the minor - and a lyrical second subject, all of which are developed and duly recapitulated. At this point the central theme of the slow movement makes an unexpected and highly effective reappearance before the two first-subject themes are vigorously taken up again in the coda, the second of them now happily in the major.

…its mature mastery and the beauty of its writing for the two instruments - although, as one of the least sensational expression of Elgar’s genius, it has not received due recognition even now. It is also one of his last works, written at Brinkwells in 1918, at about the same time as the String Quartet, the Piano Quintet and the Cello Concerto. But there is no lack of creative enthusiasm in it. There is a fully characteristic vigour in the first subject of the Allegro and, although parts of the movement are perhaps more ready to relax in the peace of the Sussex countryside - like the lovely second subject and much of the development - there are brilliant displays of energy in both the recapitulation of the first subject and, above all, in the coda.

The first section of the Romance is a strange reversion to the kind of music Elgar was writing thirty or forty years earlier with salon titles like Sérénade mauresque or Spanish Serenade. It is delightfully scored (Elgar was himself a violinist and knew all the tricks) but gives little warning of the deeply nostalgic middle section of the movement, with its sustained melodic line and passionate central climax. If there is any kind of stylistic conflict, or incongruity, it is resolved in the last movement. This is a sonata-form construction with two first-subject themes - one easily fluent in the major, one defiant in the minor - and a lyrical second subject, all of which are developed and duly recapitulated. At this point the central theme of the slow movement makes an unexpected and highly effective reappearance before the two first-subject themes are vigorously taken up again in the coda, the second of them now happily in the major.