opening section, the Subjects were, respectively in keys D minor and F major; in the Recapitulation they are in D minor and D major). A Coda, or closing section, is closely modelled upon the Development, and consists almost entirely of twenty bars of Tonic Pedal (i.e., the Keynote stands firm in the bass, as the fifth note of the key previously did). Second Movement (Adagio-Slow). This is, in the present writer's opinion, the weakest of the four Movements. He is prepared to hear that some listeners like it, at first hearing, the best, but believes that after repeated hearings of the whole work most of them will come round to his opinion. There is not in this Movement the depth of the First Movement. Its melodies are more facile, its harmonies less original. It makes a good little popular Violin and Piano piece, but is not entirely in place in this Sonata. Its main Subject resembles that of the Slow Movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, but is not so exalted. As supporting their contrary view, some listeners may care to note Fuller-Maitland: 'The slow movement is of rare directness and simplicity of structure, though it deals with great emotional passion.' The Movement opens with a Subject in the major which comes with pleasant comfort after the preceding Movement in the minor : After this passage has run its course, we hear another, the Second Subject, opening: f Ped. Then the First Subject returns again, with the Violin melody transposed an octave higher, and the Piano accompaniment elaborated. The Second Subject then also returns, transposed into another key, and with a further passing reference to the First Subject, the Movement ends. Third Movement (Un poco presto e con sentimento pretty quick, and with feeling). This is, though not so called in the score, a Scherzo, but it is a rather wistful one. It abounds in energy, but finds time for thought as it proceeds. Its Main Subject is heard at once; the Piano has the tune, the Violin merely accompanying. 4 Un poco presto è con sentimento. Ρ P dol. Of this passage as shown above, Thomas F. Dunhill remarks: 'A most unusual effect is here obtained by giving the actual bass, with the harmonies, to the violin, whilst the piano plays the theme. It is so delicately constructed and perfectly balanced that the result is delightful, but in less expert hands such a distribution of parts would be exceedingly risky.'l Lower down the page the rôles of solo and accompaniment are reversed. This section of the piece is ended by a short Codetta passage, beginning as follows : There follows a Middle Section, which might be described as of the nature of Development of the Main Subject, and a final section which reflects that Subject. Fourth Movement (Presto agitato=Rapid and agitated). This is a very vigorous movement. It is a Rondo, that is to say its main feature is a Main Subject which returns from time to time. After four bars of introductory matter, in which the PIANO hints at the coming Subject and the VIOLIN adds force by energetically filling in the harmonies between the two hands of the pianist, the Main Subject itself enters in the Violin as follows: 1Chamber Music, a Treatise for Students. 1913 (Macmillan and Stainer & Bell. 12s. 6d.). Other passages of importance throughout the piece open as follows: (This last occurs at the turn of the Record.) As a preliminary to solid enjoyment of the Movement, go through it, noting all these passages of Subject matter as often as they occur, and becoming familiar with them. Then the Main Subject returns and the Movement ends. Three Large Columbia Light Blue Records. L. 1535-6-7. 7s. 6d. This is a quiet song, somewhat of the more reflective Schubert type. It is beautifully sung. Ich ruhe stil! im hohen, grünen Gras Die schönen weissen Wolken zieh'n dahin COUNTRY SOLITUDE. Where noonday sleeps upon the grassy hill I lie and watch the boundless blue above me; The whirr of tiny wings is never still, The sunlit skies to wondrous visions move me. As o'er me float, along the azure dome, The fair white clouds, like dreamland's silent legions, My spirit seeks again its long-lost home, And floats with them through heaven's eternal regions. The original words are by Hermann Almers, the English by Paul England. Both are given here by kind permission of Messrs. Alfred Lengnick & Co. Ltd. Whilst this book is in the proof stage a friend who has been reading it reminds me how often Feldeinsamkeit is used as an illustration in Plunket Greene's Interp: etation in Song1-the best book upon singing in the English (or perhaps any) language. There are in the index no fewer than ten references to this one song, and I propose to quote (Passages quoted by 1 Macmillan and Stainer & Bell. permission of the publishers.) 75. 6d. |