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SCHUBERTSonatas Op. 137, Nos. 13

Sonata Op. post. 162

Jacqueline Ross, Violin Maggie Cole, Fortepiano

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Franz Schubert (17971828)Complete Works for Violin and Fortepiano 1

The son of a schoolmaster in the Viennese suburb ofLiechtenthal, Franz Schubert was raised in a musicalhousehold, initially receiving instruction on the violin andfortepiano respectively from his father and brother Ignaz.The family regularly played string quartets during hisformative years, Franz taking the viola part with his brothersIgnaz and Ferdinand as violinists and his father as cellist.

Another important early musical influence was MichaelHolzer, organist of Liechtenthals parish church, whoencouraged Franz but evidently gave him little actual tuition.In 1808 Antonio Salieri accepted Franz as a choirboy in theImperial Court Chapel, allowing him a free privilegededucation at the Kaiserlich-knigliches Stadtkonvikt. Here hereceived musical instruction, absorbed the rich tradition ofchurch choral singing, attended some of the finest opera inEurope and participated in general music-making, excellingin the student orchestra as both a violinist and a conductor.This active musical environment fuelled his enthusiasm forcomposition and initiated some youthful quartets andsymphonies based on the models of Haydn and Mozart.

Schubert left the choir and the Stadtkonvikt in 1813; hetrained for and entered the teaching profession as assistantto his father, participating in amateur music-making andcomposing in his spare time. The musical evenings in theSchubert household gradually expanded into sessions for astring chamber orchestra, outgrowing available space andmoving to the larger premises of Franz Frischling. With theaddition of wind instruments the ensemble transformed in toan orchestra capable of playing symphonies by Haydn andMozart and its rehearsals were again moved, late in 1815, tothe home of Otto Hatwig, where Schuberts works wereintroduced. A period of sustained musical creativityproduced, amongst other works, five symphonies, fourMasses, three string quartets, three piano sonatas, sixoperas, and some 300 or more songs; and f rom the autumnof 1816 Schuberts reputation as a composer grew steadilyin Vienna, as well as in such provincial centres as Linz, Steyr,and Graz. By the beginning of the following year, with littlehope of gaining a secure teaching position, he renouncedthat profession to devote himself exclusively to composition.

Curiously, however, only a small proportion of his oeuvre

was published during his lifetime; much of it, particularly hislarge-scale works, remained in manuscript and was relativelyunknown until the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Schubert composed his first three violin sonatas (D.384,D. 385 and D. 408) in March and April 1816. Probablyintended for music-making in the home (although there is noconclusive evidence of the occasions on which they werefirst performed), they are concise works that alignthemselves largely with Mozartian models. They werepublished posthumously by Anton Diabelli (Vienna, 1836)as Three Sonatinas, Op.137, doubtless with the aim ofexploiting the lucrative amateur music market.

The Sonata No. 1 in D, D.384, comprises three move-ments, whereas its companion works incorporate a minuetand trio in four-movement designs. It has similarities withMozarts Sonata in E minor, K. 304, notably when the twoinstrumentalists announce the opening triadicAllegrothemequietly in unison/octaves. The second idea (A major) is arhythmic motive with melodic affinities to the first. A briefdevelopment focuses on the first theme, which is subjected

to various harmonic contortions before the slightly modifiedrecapitulation. The movement concludes, as it began, witha quiet unison statement, finally punctuated by twofortissimo chords. The elegant phrases of the nostalgic,ternary Andante (A major), stated alternately by solofortepiano and the two instruments together, are alsoMozartian; but the contrasting middle section, in which theviolin takes centre stage, is straight from the world ofSchubertian song. The violinist weaves a counter-melodyaround the fortepianists lyrical line in the modified reprise.The finale is a light-hearted rondo with episodes in whichSchubert tries out his own contrapuntal skills to pleasingeffect.

The more expansive Sonata in A minor, D.385, openswith the keyboard alone. Some commentators have sensedhere the influence of Beethoven, notably hisPiano Sonata inE major,Op.14,No. 1, while others have even smelt a whiffof twelve-note music, such are the varied intervals that makeup the melodic line. Two further themes are announcedabove a triplet background, but development of this material

is minimal. TheAndante, with its contrasting sonorities and

tonalities, enjoys a special repose, captured also in thegraceful Menuettoand Trio. The finale, occasionally robustlycontrapuntal but always tuneful, may have been influenced

by the equivalent movement of Mozarts Sonata in E flat,K.380.As with theFirst Sonata, the opening triadic theme of the

Sonata in G minor, D. 408, is announced in unison by the twoinstruments. While eminently Mozartian (Alfred Einstein haslikened it to theAllegroof K.379, in the same key), it createsan equal partnership between the instruments, the firstmovement opening with declamations and responses ineach part. The tenderAndantealso features some sensitivekeyboard/violin interplay and some striking moments ofpassion. And while the refined Menuettois somewhatHaydnesque, the finale abounds in dramatic contrast.

Schubert turned again to the violin-fortepiano combi-nation in 1817, composing hisSonata in A,Op. 162, D.574.Broader in scope than the earlier three sonatas, its lyricismand richer harmonic palette reflect his increased technicalassurance and, doubtless, further Beethovenian influence.The work remained in manuscript until Diabelli published itposthumously in 1851. It opens in the fortepiano as if thebeginning of one of Schuberts songs; the violinist is the

singer and melodic material is then freely exchanged by thetwo protagonists. A brief, yet inventive developmentintroduces a new melody, which is essentially an ornamentalvariant of the first themes keyboard accompaniment. Therecapitulation holds few surprises. The energetic E major

Scherzo, launched by the fortepiano, abounds withharmonic/tonal audacity and has an excellent foil in thechromatic Trio(C major); after a dramatic silence, it returns

to complete the design.TheAndantinois a beautiful rondo(C major). Its lyrical refrain (violin) soon introduces an episodein the distant key of D flat major; when it returns, its melodyis modified by the fortepiano. A mysterious middle episodelaunches an exquisite antiphonal duet (A flat major) betweenviolin and fortepiano (right hand). When the opening refrainreturns, it brings with it subtle reminiscences of that centralepisode and its contrasting key. The scherzo-like finale (Amajor) adopts a sonata form of the peculiarly Schubertiankind that has two distinct key centres in its second subjectgroup a richly unexpected C major for its first theme andthe orthodox dominant key for its second. After a short,harmonically eventful development, the recapitulation is re-drafted so that the two keys of the second group becomeF major and A major, in which latter key a brief, rousing codabrings to a close Schuberts last contribution to the violinsonata genre.

Schubert was to return to the violin/keyboard com-bination in October 1827, when he composed his energeticRondo in B minor, D.895, for the Bohemian violinist Josef

Slavk and pianist Karl Maria Bocklet. The same duo gave thepremire of his Fantasie in C, D. 934, in Vienna on 20thJanuary 1828, less than a year before his untimely death.

Robin Stowell

Editions used

We would like to thank Knut Maseide for his help in securing all extant autograph manuscripts of the Schubert Sonatasfor violin and fortepiano (tracks 16, 811). We are also very grateful for access to the autograph of theG Minor Sonata

Allegro giusto (track 8) in the Robert Owen Lehman Collection, on deposit at the Pierpont Morgan Library.

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Jacqueline RossPerforming on both modern and period instruments, Jacqueline Ross enjoys a unique and varied career. Born in NewYork, she studied with Joseph Fuchs at the Juilliard School, continued with Saschko Gawriloff in Cologne, and later studied

baroque violin with Lucy van Dael in Amsterdam. Her acclaimed recordings include the complete BachSolo Sonatas andPartitas. Currently Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, she is also on the faculty of FestivalMusicAlp in Courchevel, and Summit Festival in New York. She is regularly invited to give master-classes, and toadjudicate at major competitions internationally. Her research into performance practice has been supported by theDutch Arts and Humanities Research Board, the British Council, and London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange, amongothers. She has recently been awarded a CMPCP Visiting Fellowship to Cambridge University, where her research willbe applied to the preparation ofa new performing edition forviolin of Schuberts TrockneBlumen Variations. Her G.B.Guadagnini violin has beenfinanced with kind help from NWBrown and Company.

Maggie ColeAmerican born, Maggie Coleenjoys an international musicallife playing and recording assoloist and in chamber music onharpsichord, fortepiano and

modern piano. Best known forher performances of Bach anda range of seventeenth andeighteenth century harpsichordcomposers, she has alsodevoted herself to modernharpsichord repertoire, includingthe concertos by de Falla andPoulenc and solo works of

Andriessen, Ligeti and GavinBryars. She performs regularlywith the Nash Ensemble, BrittenSinfonia and the CambridgeUSA group, Sarasa Ensemble.Her recordings include BachsGoldberg Variations, Soler Keyboard Sonatas, Boccherini Sonataswith Steven Isserlis, Bach FluteSonataswith PhilippaDavies and the complete BachViolin Sonataswith Catherine Mackintosh. With her fortepiano-based Trio Goya, she hasreleased a critically acclaimed recording of Haydn Trios. Maggie Cole is a faculty member of Cursos Manuel de Falla inGranada, Spain, and teaches fortepiano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Photo:BrunoHeinen

Jacqueline Ross and Maggie Cole offer copiously researched, historically informedaccounts of Franz Schuberts four contributions to the sonata for violin and keyboard,

performed on period instruments and with due reference to autograph and other relevantsource materials. These youthful works have a Mozartian grace and lucidity, yetdemonstrate the fertile melodic invention and subtle harmonic language of a composerwho had a particular affinity with the human voice. As Beethoven is reported to haveremarked, Truly in Schubert there dwells a divine spark.

Franz

SCHUBERT(17971828)

Complete Works for Violin and Fortepiano 1

Jacqueline Ross, Violin Maggie Cole, Fortepiano

Recorded at All Saints Church, East Finchley, London, UK, 811 April 2011Producer: Annabel Connellan Engineer & Editor: Ben Connellan Booklet notes: Robin Stowell

Violin by G B Guadagnini, Turin, 1777 Bow by John Dodd, c.1790 Fortepiano by Paul McNulty, Divisov,Czech Republic, 1991, after Anton Walter, Vienna c. 1795; tuned and maintained by Edmund Pickering

Pitch: A = 430 Cover image: Nasturtium engraved by Pierre-Joseph Redoute; published inChoix Des Plus Belles Fleurs, Paris (1827) ( nicoolay / iStockphoto.com)Recording supported with funds from the Research Department of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Sonata in D major,Op. 137, No. 1, D. 384 13:16

1Allegro molto 4:52

2Andante 4:133Allegro vivace 4:08

Sonata in A minor,Op. 137, No. 2, D. 385 23:21

4Allegro molto 9:225Andante 6:396Menuetto: Allegro 2:267Allegro 4:47

Sonata in G minor.Op. 137, No. 3, D. 408 16:26

8 Allegro giusto 4:49

9 Andante 4:410Menuetto 2:34! Allegro moderato 4:18

Sonata in A major,Op. post. 162, D. 574 23:36

@ Allegro moderato 9:16# Scherzo: Presto 4:17$ Andantino 4:06% Allegro vivace 5:51