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Scan 168
Violin master works and their interpretation, 1925
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1that in composition he enjoyed the technical facility the organist shows in thematic modulation and improvisation.
3From the standpoint of interpretation the difficulties of the composition are obvious. The whole work may be regarded as four evolutions of the human soul toward the Divine. Its sorrow is mystic: in playing the sonata the violinist has to express at times a feeling of anguish withheld, of tears which cannot flow. And the serene joy of the last movement is not of this earth. Most violinists are too apt to express an earthly and human rather than a celestial and spiritual happiness in their playing of the Allegretto meno mosso, but the violinist who wishes to do justice to the Sonata in A major in his interpretation must approach it with a reverence, like the officiant at some sacred mystery.
5It was a pupil of César Franck, Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), who in his "Poème" for violin and orchestra, Op. 25,* added to serious violin literature an especially noble work which holds its own on the concert stage. It would be difficult to select for this composition, which Richard Wagner inspired, a more appropriate title than the one it bears. The musical repertoire contains a sufficiency of Reveries, Legends, Nocturnes, Ballads and what not, yet none of these terms would have done justice to the rich imaginative content of Chausson's composition.
7The long sustained B flat with which the violin sets in after the well-found, mysterious orchestral introduction, must be played with the most beautiful quality of tone the student can produce, and this applies as well to the succeeding Principal Theme (unaccompanied), which must be presented very quietly, and in a most sustained manner. The composer expressly supplies the character indication in the phrase Lento e misterioso.
9Although Chausson has indicated the bowings with fairly happy results, every player is at liberty to change one or another should it not suit him, and the change can easily be carried out because the tempo is so slow. At the same time the melodic flow and continuity must not suffer, and change of
11* Ernest Chausson, "Poème," for violin and piano. Breitkopf & Härtel.
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