Violin Sonata in A Minor

This substantial four-movement work for violin and piano is the American composer Amy Beach’s only contribution to the genre. It was written in 1896, just after Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony, one of her most celebrated works and the first symphony by an American female composer to be published. The sonata shows Beach in her prime, and was soon played in both the US and Europe (where Ysaÿe was its violinist in the second-ever performance). Both musicians and critics admired the work: in London, The Times termed it “a sonata of remarkable beauty”. Its late-Romantic style bears the influence of Brahms and Franck, among others. Beach was a superb pianist and her writing for the instrument reflects this expertise, while the violin is treated almost like a voice. The first movement is a sonata form “Allegro moderato” with richly chromatic harmonic language; next comes a high-spirited “Scherzo”. The slow movement, marked “Largo con dolore”, is the heart of the work, full of anguished expressiveness; and the finale (“Allegro con fuoco”) sweeps ahead with a flamboyant sense of drama, providing a powerful conclusion.