Guide to Sonatas: Music for One or Two Instruments by Melvin Berger

Author:Melvin Berger [Berger, Melvin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-75488-2
Publisher: Anchor Books
Published: 2011-08-09T16:00:00+00:00

César Franck

Born December 10, 1822 in Liège, Belgium

Died November 8, 1890, in Paris

BY all accounts, César Franck was an amazingly kind, gentle, good-hearted man, with a strong religious and mystical bent, who looked on composing as an act of faith. Many consider the Violin Sonata in A, his sole essay in the form, to be Franck’s best work; it probably receives more performances than any of his other comparatively limited number of compositions. Players and audiences alike seem to enjoy the wide range of musical expression that Franck explores, from deeply pious contemplation to high-spirited exuberance.

The Violin Sonata is often cited as an example of cyclical form, a structural organization in which thematic material carries over from one movement to the others. In the words of composer Vincent D’Indy, Franck’s sonata is “the first and the purest model of the cyclical treatment of themes in the form of an instrumental sonata.”

Although there can be little question that the sonata conforms to the definition of cyclical form, the composer did not actually conceive of it in precisely that way. Rather Franck spoke of inventing themes related to the basic theme; he called these derived melodies “cousins.” Thus, he did not set out so much to transform and recast the original melody in subsequent movements as he allowed his imagination to create themes that were organically related to the melody with which he began.

The first three notes the violin plays constitute the germ cell that informs the entire sonata—simply stated it consists of a note, a higher note, and a return to the original note. Each of the sonata’s four movements starts with the same melodic inflection and in the course of the work it emerges in any number of different characters and contexts.

For the first movement, Franck extends the three-note musical gesture into a flowing, lyrical line that functions as the main subject. Other thematic material that is closely or remotely related to the basic motif follows. Although the movement builds to two impassioned climaxes, it presents an overall character of nobility and elegance.

The all-important motif presents itself at the start of the second movement, but is disguised this time in a torrent of agitated, turbulent passagework in the piano. Franck creates this form of the theme by linking together a succession of up-and-down turns, giving the sensation of a rising melodic line with the ups and downs moving above and beneath the overall ascent. Brilliant and virtuosic writing for both instruments makes the second movement the perfect foil to the poised calmness that came before.

The free and rhapsodic Recitative-Fantasia that follows starts off as completely improvisatory in character, with many references to material from the previous movements. The latter section becomes much more lyrical as Franck spins the melody out into wonderful cantabile phrases that further investigate the up-and-down musical motif.

The last movement features several appearances of a canon, in which the two instruments play the same melody, but starting at different times. The melody itself has a long, sustained line, but very clearly commences with a new version of the three-note cell heard at the very outset.

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