The Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100 ("Thun" or "Meistersinger"), by Johannes Brahms, the second of three such works for violin and piano, was written while spending the summer of 1886 in Thun in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. It was first performed on 2 December 1886 in Vienna.

It was a very fertile and refreshing time for Brahms. His friend, the Swiss pastor and poet (1842–1911), lived in Bern and they visited each other. He was also visited by the poet Klaus Groth and the young German contralto Hermine Spies. Both Groth and Brahms were somewhat enamoured of Spies. He found himself so invigorated by the genial atmosphere and surroundings that he said the area was "so full of melodies that one has to be careful not to step on any". In a short space of time, he produced, in addition to this violin sonata, the Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99, the Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, and various songs.

The second Violin Sonata is the shortestClassical Archives and is considered the most lyrical of Brahms's three violin sonatas. It is also considered the most difficult of the three to bring off successfully where virtuosity bows in the face of lyricism. It maintains a radiant, happy mood throughout.Music Web International

Movements

The sonata consists of three movements, with the middle movement doing service as both a slow movement and a scherzo:

Commentary By giving the work the formal title of "Sonata for Piano and Violin", rather than the more usual "Sonata for Violin and Piano", Brahms indicated the piano part was just as important as the violin part. In keeping with this, he allowed the piano to announce the opening theme. The first three notes of the first movement are very similar in both melody and harmony to the first three notes of "Walther's Prize Song" (Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein) from Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Although they were musical rivals, Brahms was a great admirer of Wagner's music, but whether this was a deliberate quotation on Brahms's part is open to speculation. Nevertheless, the sonata has often been subtitled the "Meistersinger" Sonata. It is also sometimes called the "Thun" Sonata from the place of its creation.

Motifs from three of the songs Brahms wrote that summer with Hermine Spies's voice in mind appear fleetingly in the sonata: "Wie Melodien zieht es mir leise durch den Sinn", Op. 105/1 ("Like melodies it steals softly through my mind"; words by Klaus Groth) makes an appearance in the second subject of the first movement. "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer", Op. 105/2 ("Ever gentle is my slumber"; words by Hermann Lingg) and "Auf dem Kirchhofe", Op. 105/4 (words by Detlev von Liliencron) are quoted in the final movement. The song "Komm bald", Op. 97/5 ("Come soon"; words by Groth) is also said have provided thematic inspiration for the sonata.Edward Lein, Program Notes

An outstanding quotation of Brahms' own music can also be found at bar 89 in the last movement. Lied Meine liebe ist grün (Op. 63 no 5, poem by Felix Schumann, son of Robert and Clara, died in 1879) provides the dramatic portion of its melody corresponding to die glänzt wohl herab auf den Fliederbusch lyrics ('which gleams down on the lilac bush').

For French musicologist Georges Kan, this is the location of the little phrase in Vinteuil Sonata which Swann listens to in 'In Search of Lost Time' by Marcel Proust.

The Violin Sonata No. 2 was premiered in Vienna on 2 December 1886 by the violinist Joseph Hellmesberger and Brahms himself at the piano.

Brahms's friend the poet Josef Widmann later wrote a poem to be accompanied by the sonata.The Gramophone, September 1961

Recordings Year Piano Violin Label Remarks 1990 Daniel Barenboim Itzhak Perlman Sony 1985 Vladimir Ashkenazy Itzhak Perlman Warner 1960 Arthur Rubinstein Henryk Szeryng 1962 Yehudi Menuhin 1948 Georg Solti Georg Kulenkampff Decca 2009 Lambert Orkis Anne-Sophie Mutter Deutsche Grammophon 1983 Alexis Weissenberg Anne-Sophie Mutter Warner 1993 Yefim Bronfman Isaac Stern Sony 1972 Jascha Heifetz RCA 1991 Maria João Pires Augustin Dumay Deutsche Grammophon 1975 György Sebők Arthur Grumiaux Philips 1990 Pascal Rogé Pierre Amoyal Decca 1997 Peter Frankl Kyung-Wha Chung Warner 2005 Nicholas Angelich Renaud Capuçon 1998 Ruggiero Ricci 2015 Alexander Melnikov Isabelle Faust Harmonia mundi 2013 Yuja Wang Leonidas Kavakos Decca 1967 Julius Katchen Josef Suk Decca 1960 Carl Seemann Wolfgang Schneiderhan Deutsche Grammophon 2001 Zino Francescatti Sony 1995 Piotr Anderszewski Viktoria Mullova Philips 2017 Nathan Milstein 1991 Maxim Vengerov Teldec 1955 Andrei Mytnik Leonid Kogan 1997 Roland Pöntinen Ulf Wallin Arte Nova 2019 Éric le Sage Pierre Fouchenneret 2015 Lars Vogt Christian Tetzlaff Ondine 1996 Peter Serkin Pamela Frank Decca 2018 Tasmin Little Chandos 2002 Frederic Chiu Pierre Amoyal 2011 Arabella Steinbacher PentaTone 2002 Ilya Kaler Naxos 1988 Nils-Erik Sparf BIS 2015 Szenthelyi Miklós Hungaroton 1974 Daniel Barenboim Pinchas Zukerman Deutsche Grammophon Sviatoslav Richter David Oistrakh Melodiya 1987 Valery Afanassiev Gidon Kremer Deutsche Grammophon 1968 Pierre Barbizet Christian Ferras Deutsche Grammophon 2011 Gary Graffman Berl Senofsky 2019 Nicholas Angelich Akiko Suwanai 2014 Louise Lortie Augustin Dumay Onyx 1932 Rudolf Serkin Adolf Busch HMV 2019 Cédric Tiberghien Alina Ibragimova Hyperion

References

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