Violin Sonata in D minor, Op.121

Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft (Fairly slow – Lively)

Sehr lebhaft (Very lively)

Leise, einfach (Quiet, simple)

Bewegt (Agitated)

One of the first decisions Schumann made after taking up his appointment as musical director at Düsseldorf in 1850 was to persuade Josef von Wasielewski to become leader of the orchestra. It was for him, a highly congenial musician who had been a pupil of Mendelssohn and Ferdinand David in Leipzig, that Schumann wrote his First Violin Sonata in A minor in 1851. According to Wasielewski, the Second Violin Sonata in D minor, which was completed only two months later, was the result of the composer’s dissatisfaction with the First. The violinist described the Second, which is nearly twice as long as the First, as “a profoundly serious and, except for the charming slow movement, dark piece of music.” He considered it “incomparably more significant than its predecessor.” Strangely enough, however, although he gave the first performance with Clara Schumann shortly after it was written, the work is dedicated to Ferdinand David, whose name Schumann translated into the three-note motto theme (DAF) which is presented in multi-stopped chords at the beginning of the slow introduction, is incorporated into the main theme of the following Lebhaft section and appears in all kinds of variants throughout the work.

Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft

Sehr lebhaft

Leise, einfach

Bewegt

According to Josef von Wasielewski – for whom Schumann wrote most of his chamber music with violin – the Second Violin Sonata in D minor Op.121 was the result of the composer’s dissatisfaction with the First in A minor Op.105. Certainly, the two works are very different. Although they were both completed in a matter of weeks in September and October 1851, one before and one after the Piano Trio in G minor, the Second is nearly twice as long as the First and significantly more ambitious.

The proportions the Sonata in D minor is about to assume are clearly implied by the slow opening section: with its dramatically articulated succession of multi-stopped chords and its eloquent recitative it can be calculated only to introduce a work on a large structural scale. In fact, the top notes of the chords, beginning with the all-important motif of a falling fourth and a falling third, are presented on violin as the first subject of the Lebhaft as soon as the tempo accelerates. The heroic tone, which is varied rather than contrasted by a more supple second subject in F major, is sustained throughout. As well as being ever-present in their melodic form, the chords are also integrated into the structure in their multi-stopped form, most effectively of all in a few fortissimo bars before the coda.

The two middle movements are linked in a peculiarly interesting way. The Sehr lebhaft – a pre-Brahms scherzo in B minor incorporating two lyrical trio sections with the violin playing in 2/4 against the continuing 6/8 in the piano part – introduces shortly before the end an emphatic chordal passage which, as well as echoing the double-stopped chords basic to the first movement, make a clear allusion to the chorale ‘Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.’ That chorale, oddly presented in triple time in pizzicato chords at the beginning of the third movement, now becomes the basis of a beautifully scored series of variations, the third of which in its turn recalls the 6/8 material of the preceding movement.

It seems unlikely from the urgent, even persecuted D minor beginning to the last movement that it could end in triumph. In fact, however, that opening theme proves on its many re-appearances to be adaptable to a variety of friendlier moods while the major-key material of the second subject, though scarcely relaxing the tension in rhythmic terms, contributes to a gradual clearing of the atmosphere and eventually assumes the responsibility of leading the way in the D major coda.   

Written for Josef von Wasielewski but dedicated to Ferdinand David, the Violin Sonata in D minor was first performed in public by Josef Joachim with Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf in October 1853.                 

Ziemlich langsam - lebhaft

Sehr lebhaft

Leise, einfach

Bewegt

The Violin Sonata in A minor was composed in the five days 12 to 16 September 1851. Its companion in D minor, which was written immediately after a Piano Trio in G minor for Wasielewski and his Düsseldorf colleagues, took a little longer: it was completed in the eight days 26 October to 2 November. According to Wasielewski,Schumann was not satisfied with his First Violin Sonata and made this prompt return to the medium in order to do something better.

Structured in four movements rather than three and lasting not far short of twice as long as the First, the Second Violin Sonata is certainly more ambitious. That much is clear from the slow opening section which, with its dramatically articulated succession of multi-stopped chords and eloquent recitative, can be calculated only to introduce a work of large-scale proportions. In fact, the top notes of the chords, beginning with the all-important motif of a falling fourth and a falling third, are presented on violin as the first subject of the Lebhaft (the German equivalent of Allegro) as soon as the tempo accelerates. The heroic tone, which is varied rather than contrasted by a more supple second subject in F major, is sustained throughout. As well as being ever-present in their melodic form, the chords are also integrated into the structure in their multi-stopped form, most effectively of all in a few fortissimo bars before the coda.

The two middle movements are linked in a peculiarly interesting way. The Sehr lebhaft - a pre-Brahms scherzo in B minor incorporating two lyrical trio sections with the violin playing in 2/4 against the continuing 6/8 in the piano part - introduces shortly before the end an emphatic chordal passage which, as well as echoing the double-stopped chords basic to the first movement, make a clear allusion to the chorale ‘Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.’ That chorale, oddly presented in triple time in pizzicato chords at the beginning of the third movement, now becomes the basis of a beautifully scored series of variations, the third of which in its turn recalls the 6/8 material of the preceding movement.

It seems unlikely from the urgent, even persecuted D minor beginning to the last movement that it could end in triumph. In fact, however, that opening theme proves on its many reappearances to be adaptable to a variety of friendlier moods and the major-key material of the second subject, though scarcely relaxing the tension in rhythmic terms, does contribute to a gradual clearing of the atmosphere and eventually assumes the responsibility of leading the way in the D major coda.

Written for Josef von Wasielewski and dedicated to Ferdinand David, the Violin Sonata in D minor was first performed in public by Josef Joachim with Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf in October 1853.