Solo sonata for violin (Bartók)

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The solo sonata for violin by Béla Bartók , Sz 117 , is the Hungarian composer's last chamber music work . It was premiered on November 26, 1944 in New York by Yehudi Menuhin .

General

Menuhin and Bartók first met in November 1943 in New York's Carnegie Hall . The occasion for this was a recital by Menuhins with the pianist Adolph Baller , including Bartók's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 on the program. Menuhin then ordered a violin solo sonata from Bartók, which the composer wrote down from February to March 1944 and was present at the premiere in November 1944 at Carnegie Hall. At first glance, Menuhin was not entirely convinced of the sonata and initially thought it was almost unplayable, but after studying the piece more closely, he changed his mind and called it the most important composition for solo violin since Bach's Chaconne.

The work contains four movements:

  1. Tempo di ciaconna
  2. Fugue
  3. Melody
  4. Presto

The work is obviously a homage to Bach, especially to his four-movement Sonata in C major BWV 1005. The first movement uses baroque imitation techniques . This also applies to the second movement, a four-part fugue in whose chromatic theme major and minor thirds alternate. The Presto Finale is significant for its introduction of long passages of quarter tones and some references to third tones . However, Menuhin's posthumous edition only contains Bartók's alternative versions with semitones .

The individual sentences

Concerning the first movement, Halsey Stevens remarks : "It should be noted that Tempo di ciaconna only defines the tempo , not the musical form ... Tempo di ciaconna is a sonata form at the tempo of a Chaconne ." At the same time, the first movement contains echoes Hungarian folk music, due to its rhythmic character and the use of fourths and fourth harmonics , also in double stops . In addition, there are fast ostinato repetitions on all four open strings .

In the second movement baroque joint technique is used, but not throughout. The fugue theme does not appear at all in long passages. This comprises five bars, starts on C, G, C and G and is characterized by numerous pauses. The first four thematic entries take place in ascending order, from bass to tenor and alto to soprano, with increasing complexity - the fourth entry requires four-part double stops.

The third movement has a calm and elegant character and is in three-part song form A - B - A ', which can also be described as a da capo aria . Part A is a unison melody, part B contains double stops, chords and tremolos as a contrast and closes with bird calls.

The fourth movement, Presto , is written in rondo form. After a fast and virtuoso opening in sixteenth notes, a contrasting theme follows in a folk character with dotted rhythms. Bartók explained in a letter to Menuhin that “the quarter tones in the fourth movement are only intended for coloring, have no structural character and can therefore be eliminated”.

Menuhin described the solo sonata as “a work of wild contrasts” and dedicated a comprehensive description of each movement. For him, “the first movement translates the greatest of Bach's works for solo violin, the Chaconne from the Partita in D minor, into Hungarian, freely but with discipline. A grandiose movement with an intimidating breadth of expression. ”The second movement with the fugue appeared to him as“ perhaps the most aggressive, even the most brutal music that I play ”. The third movement, Melodia, is filled with “complete serenity”, and the final movement is characterized by “fast, fleeting, dance-like rhythms”.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians : Bartók, Béla, §7: 1940–45. Second Edition, Volume 2, p. 806.
  2. ^ Halsey Stevens: The Life and Music of Béla Bartók. New York, Oxford University Press, 1993. p. 223.

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