| Piano Sonata No. 3 | |
|---|---|
| by George Enescu | |
 George Enesco in 1930 | |
| Key | D major |
| Opus | 24, No. 3 |
| Composed | 1933–35 |
| Dedication | Marcel Ciampi |
| Performed | 6 December 1938, Salle Gaveau, Paris |
| Movements | 3 |
The Sonata No. 3 for Piano in D major, Op. 24, No. 3, is a piano sonata by the Romanian composer George Enescu, written between 1933 and 1935.
Enescu composed his Third Piano Sonata during an especially dark period in his life. In September 1933 Enescu was abruptly summoned from Paris to Bucharest in order to care for Maruca Cantacuzino , his future wife with whom he had a sometimes troubled relationship since 1914, and who had suffered a mental collapse. Enescu cancelled all of his obligations abroad in order to tend her through the winter, and then fell ill himself with heart trouble, compelling him to extend his leave from the concert stage for the rest of the year. [1] [2] In August 1934, Maruca was involuntarily hospitalised with a diagnosis of anxiety psychosis in a clinic in Purkersdorf near Vienna. This was on the initiative of her adult children, Constantin ("Bâzu") and Alice Cantacuzino, who subsequently took legal action to ensure she would no longer be allowed to govern her own financial affairs. Maruca entered an acute depressive phase, living in total isolation, in the dark, and refusing to eat. Enescu took on the expenses caused by her condition and retreated to a room in the basement of a rented house on the Kiseleff Boulevard in Bucharast, where he devoted himself as best he could to composition. [3]
The Piano Sonata was composed rather quickly. According to annotations in the manuscript, the first movement was completed on 21 October 1933, followed by the second on 22 November, with the finale completed on 8 January 1934. Shortly after its initial completion, Enescu wrote to Edmond Fleg, librettist of his opera Œdipe , reporting on 30 January 1934, "I console myself by taking refuge in composition. The result is a new piano sonata, ... full of gaiety, in complete contrast with the atmosphere which surrounds it!". [4] [5] As was his custom, Enescu then allowed the score to "rest" for a time (while he worked on orchestrating the first movement of his Fourth Symphony), returning to the sonata the next year to make final revisions to the second and third movements, completed respectively on 2 and 11 May 1935 [6]
Enescu gave a private reading of the sonata to a circle of friends in Bucharest in July 1934, but the public premiere did not take place until 6 December 1938, in a performance by the score's dedicatee, Marcel Ciampi, at the Salle Gaveau in Paris [7]
Enescu designated the work as his Third Piano Sonata. The First Sonata, completed in 1924, had been given the opus number 24 and, as he did in some other cases, Enescu added the new sonata to that opus number, as Op. 24, No. 3. This suggests that there should be a Second Sonata, but no trace of such a work has been found. During a discussion at a 1967 Enescu conference, Marcel Mihalovici, who had been a close friend of the composer, said that when he asked about this missing work, Enescu replied that he had it complete in his mind, and one day would write it out on paper. But that day never came, and Enescu died without doing so. [8]
The Sonata is in three movements:
The style of the work is neoclassical, with particular reference to harpsichordists such as François Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti, but also recalling Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin . [9]
The opening movement is in sonata-allegro form, though certain aspects are open to interpretation. Pascal Bentoiu proposes that it is a somewhat eccentric adaptation of the form, with two recapitulations, separated by a bridge passage. [10]
The second movement, Andantino cantabile, takes for its main theme a modified version of the secondary theme from the first movement, with a dreamier quality and initially given a monodic presentation, followed immediately by a harmonised variant [11] Bentoiu 2010 , 333–34). Despite the winding, meditative, drifting, doina character of the movement, it is cast in a sonata-allegro form, but this time with two development sections, an unusually complex recapitulation, and a coda. [12]
The finale is a "capricious rondo", developed principally from the second theme of the slow movement. It begins with figurations that have been described as "the tinkling of bells" and, after a brief interruption, sets off in a relentless toccata-like flux that continues to the end of the movement. [13] In the process, all of the materials from the preceding movements are revisited and transformed in a "tour-de-force of cyclical re-combination". [12]
George Enescu, known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanian composer, violinist, conductor and teacher and is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history.
Symphony No. 1, Op. 13, in E♭ by the Romanian composer George Enescu reflects the composer's training in both Vienna and Paris. In the former location he studied the Brahmsian tradition with Robert Fuchs, and in the latter the French tradition with Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré.
The two Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11, for orchestra, are George Enescu's best-known compositions. They were written in 1901, and first performed together in 1903. The two rhapsodies, and particularly the first, have long held a permanent place in the repertory of every major orchestra. They employ elements of lăutărească music, vivid Romanian rhythms, and an air of spontaneity. They exhibit exotic modal coloring, with some scales having 'mobile' thirds, sixths or sevenths, creating a shifting major/minor atmosphere, one of the characteristics of Romanian music. They also incorporate some material found in the later drafts of Enescu's Poème roumaine, Op. 1.
The Octet for strings in C major, Op. 7, is an octet composition for string instruments by the Romanian composer George Enescu, completed in 1900. Together with the Octet in F major, Op. 17 (1849) by Niels Gade, it is regarded as amongst the most notable successors to Felix Mendelssohn's celebrated Octet, Op. 20.
The Sonata No. 3 in A minor "dans le caractère populaire roumain" for violin and piano, Op. 25, is a chamber music composition written in 1926 by the Romanian composer George Enescu. The score, published in 1933, is dedicated to the memory of the violinist Franz Kneisel. It is one of the composer's most popular and at the same time most critically respected works.
The Suite No. 2 for piano, in D major, Op. 10, is the second piano suite by George Enescu, composed between 1901 and 1903 in Paris. It was published in 1904, and is dedicated to Louis Diémer.
Symphony No. 2, Op. 17, in A major by the Romanian composer George Enescu was written in 1912–14. A performance lasts about 55 minutes.
The Symphony No. 3, Op. 21, in C major is a large-scale orchestral-vocal composition by the Romanian composer George Enescu. While it was first written in 1916–18. the composer revised it numerous times over the following decades.
The Symphony No. 4 in E minor is an orchestral composition by the Romanian composer George Enescu, left incomplete at the composer's death, but finished in 1996 by Pascal Bentoiu.
The Symphony No. 5 in D major is a large-scale composition for orchestra, tenor soloist, and female choir by the Romanian composer George Enescu, using a text by the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu. Drafted in 1941 and partially orchestrated at some later date, the symphony was left unfinished at Enescu's death, but has been completed posthumously, first partially by Cornel Țăranu in 1970–72 and 1990, then in complete form by Pascal Bentoiu in 1995.
The Chamber Symphony, Op. 33, in E major, is a symphony written for twelve instruments, and the last work finished by the Romanian composer George Enescu.
Piano Quartet No. 2 in D minor, Op. 30, is a chamber-music composition by the Romanian composer George Enescu, written in 1943–44.
The Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 16, is a chamber music composition by the Romanian composer George Enescu, written in 1909 and first performed in Paris the same year.
The Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 29, is a chamber music work by the Romanian composer George Enescu, written in 1940.
The String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 22, No. 2, is a chamber music work by the Romanian composer George Enescu, composed mainly between 1950 and 1951, though it has a lengthy pre-history and received a number of revisions in 1952 and possibly early 1953. The score is dedicated to the American pianist, composer, and arts patron, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. A performance of it lasts about 25 minutes.
The Sonata No. 1 for Piano in F-sharp minor, Op. 24, No. 1, is a piano sonata by the Romanian composer George Enescu, completed in 1924.
The Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano in F minor, Op. 6, is the second violin sonata by the Romanian composer George Enescu, completed in 1899.
The Cello Sonata No. 2 in C major, Op. 26, No. 2, is a sonata for cello and piano by the Romanian composer George Enescu, written in 1935. A performance lasts about 30 minutes.
The Decet for winds in D major, Op. 14, is a chamber music work by the Romanian composer George Enescu, written in 1906 and first performed in Paris the same year. A performance lasts about 23 minutes.
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| Named for Enescu | |
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