Presents

Carl Maria von Weber

Soundbite 1st Movt Soundbite 2nd Movt Soundbite 3rd Movt

 Violin Sonata No.2 in d minor, Op.10a No.2

The musical reputation of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) rests almost entirely on his famous operas Die Freischutz and Oberon and a few other works such as his clarinet concertos. But Weber’s music by and large is unknown to present day players and listeners, which is a pity since it is uniformly well-written. Weber studied with Michael Haydn in Salzburg the Abbe Vogler in Vienna, two of the leading teachers of their day. He pursued a career as a conductor and music director holding posts in Breslau, Prague, Berlin and Dresden.

Violin Sonata No.1 in F Major, Op.10a No.1 is the first of a set three published in 1813 under the title Trois Sonatas Progressives Oeuvre 10. A second set of three appeared under the same title and opus number. However, Weber forgot that he had already composed and published an Op.10, a set of piano sonatas. This was to cause some confusion and the violin sonatas became known as Op.10a or sometimes 10b. It is interesting to note that although these sonatas are really quite easy and present no technical difficulties, his initial publisher rejected them as being too difficult for the players to whom he wished to market them!

These sonatas combine classical forms with early romantic expression. An interesting feature of many of the sonatas is their use of non German dance forms, such as the Carattere Espagnuolo and Air Polonaise found in Sonata No.2, an Air Russe found in No.3, a Siciliano found in No.5 and a Polacca in No.6. In No.5, he shows his operatic colors using as the opening theme, a melody from his own opera Silvana.