November / Month of the Sonata – 9

      Jules Delsart

 

           ______

           

at the end of the Romantic Period, 1886, and

encroaching on the upcoming Impressionistic

Era, César Frank wrote his Violin Sonata in

A major, a musical glimpse into a new age,

this is not Chopin, not Beethoven, not 

Schubert, despite obvious, if you’re 

listening, homages, references

 

you’ll note the atonality, musical progressions 

that seem askew, eccentric, not as harmonious 

as those earlier composers, like a neurosis 

taking over

 

tempo, a second essential element of music 

in the West, however changeable might it be, 

even within the individual movements, is 

recognizable

 

repetition, the third pillar of Western music 

is keeping us on track, bringing us back to

the original statement, to the air each 

movement presents at their several 

introductions 

 

Frank’s sonata was so appreciated by an

accomplished cellist friend, Jules Delsart,

that he asked if he would transcribe it for 

cello, their joint Sonata in A major for 

Cello and Piano remains to this day a 

stalwart on the cello circuit

 

compare, an exercise in sharpening your

aesthetic pencil, try it, enjoy

 

 

R ! chard