On August 9th 1916 Fauré went to stay at Evian. On the 16th he wrote to his wife: "I am working quietly on what I hope will be my second sonata." And on September 24th : "Yesterday I finished the first movement of the Sonata. The Finale is more than half done." The Andante was only sketched at Evian: with the finale it was finished in Paris in the winter of 1916-17. Before leaving Evian, on September 27th, Fauré declared his intention of dedicating the sonata to Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians. "She plays the violin," he added, "and you know what a liking she has for my music."
Though written forty years after the Sonata in A, the Sonata in E has the same youthful elan - but with many times he power and profundity. This is one of Fauré's most successful works, standing side by side with the Second Piano Quintet. Both works have especially powerful finales. and that of the Second Violin Sonata is perhaps the peak of the work.
Right from the start the strongly-marked rhythm in the bass of the piano, with its syncopations and its alternating pattern of short and long note-values (quaver-crotchet-quaver-quaver-crotchet-crotchet), gives vigour and purpose to the movement. In its vehemence, ardour and fiery pride this piece is very far removed from the cosy salon music to which Fauré is supposed to have confined himself. Soon the violin presents an important melodic theme, with characteristic enharmonic modulations through sequences of rising thirds. It is like a beautiful seagull gliding strong-winged above the stormy swell of the piano. There is no finer musical seascape than this picture of wind and sun, foaming waves and crying gulls. The real second subject, in G major, is much calmer. It is supported by syncopated quaver-crotchet rhythms in the piano part: this gives unity to the whole movement. This return to the impenousness of the opening is the signal for the development-section to begin. In a brief lull the second subject comes back (in E major), but the all-powerful rhythm invades the bass once more, and after a massive ascent (during which the music passes imperceptibly from 9/8 to 12/8) the recapitulation - entirely in 12/8 - is reached. Next comes quite a long final development-section, ending in E major with the original powerful rhythm heard once again.
Formal analysis : exposition - .bars 1-56; development-section 57-146; recapitulation 147-193; coda (final development-sectlon) 194-227. The development-section is really a long counter-exposition (the themes come in the same order!).
This movement is partly drawn from the Andante of the symphony written in 1884 but then destroyed. But this material is greatly refined and altered here. After the invigorating forcefulness of the opening movement, we have here one of Fauré's most exquisite meditatlons. For all its limpidity this movement has a rare profundity, and carries us effortlessly to regions of bliss where all is peace, harmony and serenity - yet this is the fruit of a hard-won maturity. In their late works Mozart and Schubert achieve a similar effect of childlike innocence combined with the accumulated experience of a lifetime. In the second bar the singing dolce melody is heard on the violin, with subtle enharmonic ambiguities: the whole movement, in fact, is one more example of Fauré's tonal instability. This instability, far from making us uneasy, frees us from the chains of gravity, and radiates the same beneficent power as some chromatic Ricercar by Frescobaldi - that Fauré of the 17th century. The theme is taken up by the piano and then treated in canon. The rather more doleful second subject rests on that upper appoggiatura of the third, that augmented fourth which is so frequent in late Fauré, and which always represents an inexpressible sense of aspiration for higher things. The first subject returns in the piano part, even more subtly harmonized than before : then comes the second subject. The two themes are combined in a substantial final development-section (polyphonic, with canons and imitations), introduced by the opening melody - which insinuates itself slyly in the left hand of the piano. The augmented fourths of the second subject are added to the first subject. Finally the violin, during a long calm coda, gradually comes down into its low register and finds rest in the key of A major.
Formal analysis: A - bars 1-23; B 24-63; A 64-81 ;B 82-93; A + B (final development-section and codal 94-129.
The radiant limpidity of this movement. is even more marked than that of the finale of the First Piano Quintet. This quality, together With the masterly contrapuntal tension that is created, makes it the finest part of the sonata and perhaps also the best finale Fauré ever wrote. In form It IS somewhat complex, With elements of both rondo and sonata-form. There are a number of other examples in late, Fauré. The main theme heard on the violin in the bright key of E major, is graceful and singing, with firm, well-balanced syncopations which are entirely without harshness. The second subject, In B major, is exultantly joyful. The downward leap of an octave, followed by a downward appoggiatura shows that the theme is one of those associated with Penelope. But the syncopations of the principal theme soon return in the piano accompaniment and then in the violin part. Then comes the third theme, rich in enharmonlc modulations, with two complementary elements. The second of these is the more important, The three themes return, in the same order in a kind of varied counter-exposition or free development-section. Thus the third appearance of the opening theme - treated in canon - takes on the force of a recapituatlon. But after the return of the second theme the third is not repeated. Instead we have substantial cyclic allusions to the First movement into this finale in such a way that the flow of the music is not in the least disrupted. It is done with very great skill. Fauré here outdoes the Franck Schola. First of all the syncopated rhythm from the start of the sonata are heard in the bass of the piano, then on the violin. These virile syncopations mingle easily with the gentle ones of the finale's main theme. Then the violin in the bliss of E major, gives us the second subject of the first movement. The ending is masterly : the main theme of the finale returns, combined with the beginning of he second subject (also of the finale) - which is then heard in its entirety on the violin; next comes a final progression based on the main theme, which, however, withdraws to allow the beginning of the second subject to finish alone in a moment of glorious triumph and joy.
Formal analysis : "exposition" - bars 1-75 (themes 1, 2 and 3); "counter-exposition" or development-section 76-167 ( themes 1, 2 and 3); recapitulation 168-191 (themes 1 and 2) ; cyclic references to the first movement 192-228 ; final development-section (themes 1 and 2) 230-269.
Brussels, June 1970
Harry HALBREICH
Marinkyo's School > Gabriel Fauré > Notes by Harry Halbreich > Violin Sonata No.2, Op.108
