Violin Sonatas no. 1-3 – Gavotte (1867)

Edvard Grieg’s work is very popular for his programmatic pieces for orchestra or his piano concerto, but he is first remembered as a composer of works using smaller forms, songs and short character pieces for piano. His three violin sonatas use the classic three-movement layout in a very individual and virtuos way. Both instruments have equal opportunities to show off their musical and technical abilities. The sonatas have the lyrical expressive treatment of the violin part, the precedence of motivic combinations over thematic intricacies, and the stylization of characteristics of Norwegian folk music in common, founding their unmistakable charm, and the daring harmonic of these sonatas is reaching nearly impressionistic tone-colors. Two of the three violin sonatas are works of the young composer who, following his studies in Leipzig, was in search of his own romantic, indigenous folkloric style; the third sonata is exemplary of this self-confidently and firmly established sound. In a letter to Norway’s celebrated author Bjornstjerne Bjornson from January 16, 1900 Grieg wrote about his three violin sonatas:

“These three works are among my very best and represent different stages in my development: the first, naive and rich in ideals; the second, nationalistic; and the third with a wider outlook.”