Piano Sonata no. 2 op. 94

Written three years after his Sonata fantastique in C major op.63 (1881), Godard’s Second Sonata, unlike its predecessor, is completely devoid of programmatic content, even if the principal theme of the opening allegro bears some resemblance to the plainchant Dies irae. It is followed by the type of alternation between right hand and left found in the first movement ofBeethoven’s Pathétique Sonata, and the music grows increasingly virtuosic as it unfolds. The second movement affords a respite, with a long lyrical melody in D flat major, after which the finale, in 6/8 time, seems to combine the nimble scherzando gestures of Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a dazzling coda worthy of a Chopin ballade. In general, the serious genre of the sonata prompts Godard to write dense, sombre textures, with full chords, concentrating on the medium and bass registers of the instrument. This work is Beethovenian in spirit, but Schumannesque in style and sensitivity. It illustrates a not only unknown, but even unsuspected side to a composer who is generally viewed as having devoted himself exclusively to superficial salon music. It is true that, at a time when the sole sonatas of Dukas and d’Indy were about to revolutionise the twilight years of the Romantic sonata, Godard’s may legitimately pass for conservative. Yet it is precisely in the homage they pay to early Romanticism that their interest lies. Godard dedicated his sonata to his friend, the Belgian pianist Auguste Dupont (1827-90).