Brahms early on engaged with the violin sonata genre. As early as 1853 he wrote a sonata in a minor, which - like so many other youthful works of this self-critical composer - no longer survives. Thus the G-major sonata op. 78, written in 1878/79, is now counted as his first contribution to the genre; it has the nickname “Regenlied Sonata” (literally “rain-song sonata”) because of the quotation from a song that appears in the finale. In summer 1886 Brahms composed, almost simultaneously, the two sonatas op. 100 and 108. All three works now have a firm place in the violinistic canon.
We round off our volume with the Scherzo in c minor that Brahms contributed to the so-called “F.A.E Sonata”, which he composed together with Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich as a gift for violinist Joseph Joachim in 1853. With its stark contrast between the turbulent allegro and the emotional più moderato part, his scherzo has become a popular bravura and encore piece.
The present new edition is based on the New Brahms Complete Edition, and offers a musical text and commentary that have been revised according to the latest research. The fingering is by respective masters of their instruments Frank Peter Zimmermann and Martin Helmchen.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
