Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major

In the Classical period and for some time afterward, what we now call violin sonatas were in fact published as sonatas for piano with violin accompaniment. Some of the sonatas of Haydn and Mozart do more or less fit that description, but Beethoven’s democratic politics were also reflected in his attitude to chamber music: each instrument must be first among equals. The Op. 24 Violin Sonata is a good example. The violin leads off with a lovely long-breathed melody, and it is only after it has finished that the piano is able to claim it and take it in new directions. The sonata appeared in 1801; it was after Beethoven’s death in 1827 that it acquired the nickname Spring. Nicknames in classical music aren’t always helpful, but in this case the fit is perfect. The first movement is joyous, expansive, its generous lyricism full of the promise of young life. The still more relaxed “Adagio” has something of the atmosphere of the "Scene by a Brook" from the Pastoral Symphony, while the game-of-tag “Scherzo” and the songful finale also show Beethoven at his least strenuous and most purely joyful. The heaven-storming composer-hero of the Eroica Symphony seems worlds away.