Sonata for violin and piano no. 1 in C minor op. 37

“The new sonata by Madame Farrenc, for piano and violin, is an excellent addition to her catalogue of works, and is written, like most of them, in an austere classical style reminiscent of the great masters”, remarked Théophile Gautier admiringly in La Presse dated 31 March 1851. At that time, the small number of French sonatas for violin and piano helped to draw attention to Louise Farrenc’s work, composed in 1848, long before Godard (in 1867) and Castillon (in 1868) ventured into this field, followed by Fauré (1876), Saint-Saëns (1885) and Franck (1886). Furthermore, as Gautier stressed, Louise Farrenc had opted for a formal style, eschewing the two approaches generally adopted by her peers: a relatively simple style of writing, pleasantly cantabile in tone; or, on the contrary, a virtuoso first violin, treated like a concerto soloist with a piano accompaniment. In Farrenc’s work, the choice of the key of C minor immediately attests to a desire for solemnity, especially as the first and last movements end in this key without modulating to the parallel major key. The feeling of an “austere classical style” is also conveyed by the presence of a slow introduction (initially majestic, then plaintive), by the passionate first theme of the Allegro and the noble melody of the Poco adagio, with its dark, agitated central section providing a striking contrast. Ernest Reyer, the composer’s nephew, was particularly fond of this central movement, “a masterpiece of grace and melody”. Although the remarkably compact Finale dares to be lighter in tone than the initial Allegro, there is nothing divertimento-like about it.