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How Mozart wrote a three-movement Sonata in less time than it takes the Sun's light to reach Saturn
Jack Liebeck
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Experimental particle physicist Brian Foster and two musicians, violinist Jack Liebeck and accompanist Katya Apekisheva, have hit on the novel idea of an evening matching a lecture on Albert Einstein’s landmark scientific achievements with music that meant so much to him. The great theoretician had learned to play the violin from the age of six, and it remained a potent source of comfort and inspiration for him throughout his life.
Einstein discovered the joys of the Mozart violin works at the age of 13. The Sonata in G, K 379, was claimed by its composer to have been written in an hour, “between 11 and 12 o’clock at night” according to a letter he wrote to his father. Only the violin part was written down completely. Mozart left some of the keyboard passages for himself to improvise when he played it the following evening. A final version was written down only later. Though the composer did not specify the piece precisely, the musicologist, Alfred Einstein (no relation) suggested the ‘K 379’ based on a manuscript of only the violin part which was found in a Berlin archive. As recently as 1991, Robert Riggs backed this assertion through an analysis of the ink and that used for the contemporary sonatas, ‘K 377’, ‘378’ and ‘380’.
Aged 16, Einstein’s family moved to Switzerland and there he is known to have worked hard on Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, to improve his appreciation of the piece. Brahms’ friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, was due to play it in a local recital. The three ‘Violin Sonatas’ of Brahms contain some of his most personal and expressive music. Though somewhat sombrely etched, this first one - again in G - is the most expressive of them, the pensive beauties of the central Adagio being fitting for its emotional heart.
Of Bach’s music, Einstein once rounded on an outspoken editor, “about Bach’s works: listen, play, love, revere - and keep your trap shut.” The Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard were written during his time in Cöthen, between 1717-23. One of Bach’s musical sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel, wrote, “These are the best works by my beloved father. They sound excellent and still give me much pleasure, even though over 50 years have passed. They contain some Adagii that could not be written in a more singable manner.” In the four-movement Sonata No. 1, the writing has a dignity and energy that justifies this accolade.
Also included in the music programmed is Dvorak’s Sonatina in G, written in the USA to be played by his children and taking its inspiration from native American melodies. and Ernest Bloch’s three portraits from hassidic life, Baal Shem, written in 1923, the year he became an American citizen.
Admission to the science lecture is free for those buying a ticket for the violin recital.
26 February, The Venue, Leeds College of Music, 3 Quarry Hill, LS2 7PD, 0113 222 3400. Lecture 5.15pm, Recital 7.45pm. Lecture & recital £12.50 (£10 concs), lecture only £2.50 (£2 concs)
Posted on Friday 5th February 2010
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