Robert Schumann - Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 121 (1851)

Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.

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Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121 (1851)
Dedication: Ferdinand David

I Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft (0:00)
II. Sehr lebhaft (13:08)
III. Leise, einfach (17:41)
IV. Bewegt (24:00)

Ara Malikian, violin and Serouj Kradjian, piano

Schumann spent most of 1851 working on pieces in minor keys. In all of these -- two of the three Phantasiestücke, Op. 111, the Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 110, and the two Violin Sonatas -- we sense an introspective, fatalistic character imbued with uncertainty and tension. The string parts have few pizzicato passages or flights of virtuosity, and in the Violin Sonatas the violin spends most of its time in the middle register, never given a chance to soar.

The second Violin Sonata was composed very quickly; Schumann began the piece on October 26, 1851, and finished it on November 2. It followed on the heels of his first Violin Sonata, that in A minor, Op. 105, which was composed in mid-October. One of Schumann's comments on the A minor Sonata may explain his immediate composition of another work in the genre: "I didn't like the first violin sonata, so I wrote a second, which I hope turned out better." The Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 121, was published in 1853

Schumann seems to have been more comfortable with the intimate instrumentation of the chamber works than he was with a large orchestra. The intimate chamber-music genres allowed the composer to indulge his preference for intricate figurations and subtle harmonic inflections that are a salient feature of his solo piano pieces. Not surprisingly, the chamber works, aside from the string quartets, are clearly piano driven, with the violin either following the keyboard part or acting in opposition to it.

Editor:
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Publisher Info.:
Robert Schumanns Werke, Serie V: Für Pianoforte und andere Instrumente
Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1880. Plate R.S. 30.
Copyright:
Public Domain