writing
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Op. 12, No. 1: Movement III. Rondo: Allegro
Link to III. Rondo: Allegro:
https://pdx-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stream.asp?s=134157%2Fpsunmlpd12%2F271316%5F03
Link to entire piece: https://pdx-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/streamw.asp?ver=2.0&s=134157%2Fpsunmlpd12%2F1554
Jozef Elsner:
Violin Sonata in F Major, Op. 10, No. 1: Movement III. Rondo: Allegretto
Link to III. Rondo: Allegretto
https://pdx-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stream.asp?s=134157%2Fpsunmlpd12%2Fgr3257%5F003
Link to entire piece:
Ludwig van Beethoven, born in the year 1770, is an admired German composer and pianist. He grew up in a musical family playing violin and piano. His father, Johann van Beethoven, taught him until he later studied with Christian Gottlob Neefe. When he turned twenty-one, he moved to Vienna which was where he began to gain his reputation as he studied under Haydn. His most prolific years were between 1800 and 1825. He wrote music in a vast range of genres, including but not limited to symphonies, trios, concertos, and sonatas. Beethoven wrote most of his sonatas before his 32nd birthday, including this Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Opus 12. This violin sonata, Opus 12, is one of the earliest sonatas that he composed. While it is entitled “Violin Sonata,” it highlights the piano part as a complement to the violin part, rather than a background accompaniment. This is characteristic of many of Beethoven’s early violin sonatas. As time went on, his violin sonatas became stranger and emphasized the violin more, especially as he began to lose his hearing. Most of Beethoven’s violin sonatas were written in three movements in the fast-slow-fast structure. The third movement that I will be highlighting in this post is a Rondo: Allegro which means that there is a theme that is repeated several times throughout the movement, and each episode of the theme differs slightly. Allegro means that it has a lively, upbeat tempo.
Jozef Elsner is a Polish composer who was born in 1769. His parents were German-Silesian, meaning that they were from the southwestern part of today’s Poland that borders on the Czech Republic. He completed education to become a priest at two different monastery schools and a Jesuit college, but he decided to pursue a career in music. However, faith was evidently an important part of his life as he composed more than one-hundred religious works. In 1799, he became the conductor at Warsaw’s National Theater. He is unique because he wove elements of folk music into some of his works. While he is not extremely well-known, he is renowned for being Frederic Chopin’s piano teacher. In his diary, he noted that Chopin was a “musical genius” after he had been studying under him for three years. Similar to Beethoven, Elsner writes with equality between the instruments in this movement of his violin sonata. For every run or trill in the violin, there is one that matches its complexity for the piano. This allows both musicians to exhibit their talents equally, as well as shows Elsner’s competency in both instruments.
Like Elsner’s movement in his violin sonata, Beethoven’s Rondo movement begins with an introduction by solo piano. At 1:26, there are ascending arpeggios in the piano part while the violin plays short staccato notes in a minor chord. This resolves to a major section shortly after, in which the piano plays lower bass notes and the violin plays a sweeping melody. The tone of Beethoven’s movement is quite melancholy for a few seconds here before it returns to the playful Rondo tone. Around 3:45, there is a brief ritardando which escalates to a brief key change to the key of E flat major. It quickly returns to D major for the end of the piece.
Elsner’s Rondo movement in his violin sonata opens with a piano theme that is echoed shortly after by the violin. At the beginning of the movement, there is a rapid run by the piano around 0:28 that shows off the technical excellence of this composer. After this, the piano plays rapid arpeggios while the violin punctuates it with short, staccato notes. The two instruments seem to take turns leading with variations on the Rondo theme. Around 1:12, the two instruments play together in the same rhythms, which is the first time this happens in the piece so far. It happens again around 1:35. This is shortly followed by a return to the original theme.
There are many ways in which Elsner’s and Beethoven’s rondo movements are similar. For example, they both have highly technical piano parts that mirror or complement the solo violin. Both movements employ the use of arpeggios, especially in the piano accompaniment. While there are many similarities between the two composer’s Rondo movements, there are some differences. For example, Beethoven’s Rondo movement contains more variety in the chords it employs, as well as dynamic and tempo changes. For example, that brief switch to the key of E flat in Beethoven’s Rondo is unprecedented in sonatas of this time which usually stick to chords within the key in which they are written. Elsner employs minor keys for brief sections in his movement, but these are usually to the relative minor for the key in which it was written (for the key of F major, the relative minor would be three half-steps down, D minor).