Tuesday April 6, 2010


Friends of Chamber Music

Julia Fischer, violin; Milana Chernyavska, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.8 in G major, Op.30 No.3

Bohuslav Martinů: Violin Sonata No.3, H 303
Peter Tchaikovsky: Melody in E flat major, Op.42 No.3 from
Souvenir of a Beloved Place (5/6/09)
Also, Charley anticipates Katie Mahan's appearance with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic this weekend.
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Etudes-Tableaux in C major, Op.33 No.2 & in D minor, Op.33, No.4
Katie Mahan, piano


Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major,
Opus 30 No. 3
Allegro assai
Tempo di Minuetto
Allegro vivace

By 1802 Beethoven was fully aware of his hearing loss and began consulting physicians. Dr. Vering had promised ``an improvement if no complete cure,'' but delivered neither. Dr. Schmidt recommended moving to someplace quiet. Accordingly, in the autumn Beethoven took lodgings in rural Heiligenstadt.
There he wrote a remarkable letter, now known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, whose tone is part will, part suicide note, and part hymn to his determination to compose in spite of his malady. ``I almost reached the point of putting an end to my life--only art it was that held me back, ah, it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt called upon to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence.''
During this time Beethoven wrote his Second Symphony, three piano sonatas (Op.31) and three violin sonatas (Op.30). The latter were published the next year with a dedication to Tsar Alexander I of Russia. The third of the set is sometimes called ``the little G major'' sonata, to distinguish it from the Opus 96 Violin Sonata in the same key.
``The first and last movements are gay and brilliantly effective,'' writes John N. Burke, ``the middle one, by contrast, delicate and thinly scored.'' The opening fugure in the first movement, he says, ``appearing in many guises, roaring in the bass, or whispering in the treble, is characteristic of points of excitement, such as flashing scales, or the passage of driving trills which opens the development.'' Burke calls the Minuet ``a movement of transparent simplicity,'' and the last movement ``headlong and sparkling, giving the violinist plentiful opportunity to show his sleight of hand.''
Copyright 2010, Charley Samson