Violin Sonatina (Sibelius)

The Violin Sonatina in E major, Op. 80, is a three-movement duo for violin and piano written in 1915 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The main theme of the third movement was originally intended for the Sixth Symphony (Op. 104).

History


The Violin Sonatina received its premiere in Helsinki, Finland on 6 December 1915, on occasion of the semi-centennial of Sibelius's birth (during which there were many concerts celebrating the composer); the soloists were the Polish-American violinist Richard Burgin and the Finnish pianist Eino Lindholm. Also on the program was the String Quartet in B-flat major (Op. 4, 1890), the suite for solo piano Kyllikki (Op. 41, 1904), and the String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (Op. 56, 1909).

Structure and music
The Violin Sonatina is in three movements, as follows: 1. Lento – Allegro

2. Andantino

3. Lento – Allegretto

The piece was published in 1921 by Edition Wilhelm Hansen.

Movement I
The first movement begins in time before switching to  for the Allegro. It has a duration of about 3.75 minutes.

Movement II
The second movement is in time and has a duration of about 4.5 minutes.

Movement III
The third movement begins time before switching to  at the Allegretto. It has a duration of about four minutes.

Discography
The American violinist Diana Steiner and the pianist David Berfield made the world premiere studio recording of the Violin Sonatina in 1977 for Orion. The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

Notes, references, and sources

 * Notes


 * References


 * Sources