Sonatina in G major op.100 (Dvořák)

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The Sonatina in G Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 100 wrote Antonin Dvorak between 19 November and 3 December 1893 in New York . It is the last chamber music work that he wrote on American soil.

It is dedicated to his children, especially Ottilie, then fifteen, and Toník, who was ten, whose musical and reproductive skills she was adapted to. Dvořák himself characterizes the work in his letter to Fritz Simrock of January 2, 1894 as follows: “It (the sonatina) is intended for young people (dedicated to my two children), but also grown-ups, adults, should converse with it, just like them can..."

All four small movements, which are simply and clearly structured, contain themes that, like the quartet in F major for 2 violins, viola and cello op.96 and the quintet in E flat major for 2 violins, 2 violas and cello op. 97 , fall back on expressions typical of “Indian melodies” and spirituals ( pentatonic , syncopated rhythm , etc.).

It was published by Simrock in Berlin in 1894.

A performance of the work usually takes about 18 minutes.

History of origin

The sketch was written down from November 19 to 23, 1893, the score of the first movement was recorded from November 23 to 24, the second and third movement until November 25, and the fourth movement until December 3, 1893, all in New York.

Sentence descriptions

1st movement: Allegro risoluto

3/4 time, key: G major

The first movement is in the form of a sonata main movement , which develops three themes in the exposition . The main theme is a thirty-two bar song composed of three motivic elements. This is directly linked to the secondary theme in E minor , which features imitations of the two instruments accompanied by wave-shaped triplets . The triplet movement is then carried over to the final theme. The implementation is kept relatively short and mainly handles the beginning of the main theme. The recapitulation then turns into a calm, concluding coda .

2nd movement: Larghetto

2/4 time, key: G minor

Dvořák is said to have recorded the introductory melody of the second movement while looking at the glittering play of colors of the Minnehaha Falls near Saint Paul in Minnesota . It is followed by a phrase in B flat major made up of two motivic elements . This is followed by a short intermezzo in G major, which sounds simple and graceful over an organ point . The sentence closes with the repetition of the opening theme.

3rd movement: Molto vivace

3/4 time, key: G major

The third movement is a scherzo with perfectly symmetrical corner parts that begin with a strongly rhythmic motif . The trio is quieter in the first eight bars, but then increases with syncopated accents .

4th movement: Allegro molto, Molto tranquillo, Allegro molto, Molto tranquillo

2/4 time, key: G major

In the fourth movement Dvořák goes back to the sonata form . The main theme experiences a syncopation in the third bar, which is taken up repeatedly in the following connection ideas. The dotted rhythm of the secondary theme, which, like the secondary theme of the first movement, is in E minor, resembles that of the main theme of the first movement of the quintet in E flat major op. 97 and is described by Šourek as an American peculiarity . The exposition closes with a new theme in E major , which surprises with its slow tempo (Molto tranquillo). The implementation brings only the main topic to development. In the recapitulation, the secondary theme appears in G minor and the final theme, also Molto tranquillo, in G major. The coda, which grows out of the first two bars of the main theme, increases in tempo as in dynamics.

reception

The painful, emotional melody made the second movement very popular, which prompted the publisher Simrock to publish it as an arrangement for various instruments under various names such as Indian Canonzetta , Indian Lamento , Indian Lullaby , etc. However, this happened without the knowledge of the composer.

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