String instruments > Violin and Piano
Camille Saint-Saëns
Violin Sonata no. 1 d minor op. 75
Editor: Peter Jost
Fingering: Pascal Rogé
Fing. vn: Antje Weithaas
39.95 $
Urtext Edition, paperbound
with marked and unmarked string parts
Pages: 83 (V, 46, 16, 16), Size 23,5 x 31,0 cm
Order no. HN 572 · ISMN M-2018-0572-6
Level of difficulty (Violin): medium (Level 6)
Originally planned only as a little duo for violin and piano, the composition grew into a sonata in autumn 1885. The first performances were more than disillusioning for Saint-Saëns, as the violinists came to grief with its virtuosic demands, in particular those of the finale. He told his publisher that it would be called “the hippogriffsonata”, implying that the violin part could only be played by a mystical figure. Since then the sonata has, by and large, lost its horrors and is now one of the best loved chamber music works by the French master, despite, or perhaps even because of its technical challenges. Our Urtext edition is the first to take into account all surviving sources for the work.
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The levels of difficulty of the
music for violin published by G. Henle Publishers
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| easy | medium | difficult | ||||||
The levels of difficulty of the violin music published by G. Henle Publishers
| Level | Degree | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | easy | Beethoven, 6 German Dances WoO 42 |
| 2 | Beethoven, Rondo G major WoO 41 |
|
| 3 | Mozart, Violin Sonata F major KV 547 |
|
| 4 | medium | Haydn, Violin Concerto A major Hob. VIIa:3 |
| 5 | Bach, Violin Concerto a minor BWV 1041 |
|
| 6 | Brahms, Violin Sonata G major op. 78 |
|
| 7 | difficult | Paganini, No. 9 from Capricci op. 1 |
| 8 | Beethoven, Violin Concerto D major op. 61 |
|
| 9 | Berg, Violin Concerto |
I have assigned all of the violin music in G. Henle Publishers' catalogue a level of difficulty, ranging from "very easy" to "very difficult". The model for this was the evaluation system with nine levels developed for Henle's piano catalogue by Rolf Koenen. Unlike the works for solo piano, I have decided against evaluations that lie between two levels (e.g. 4/5 or 7/8).
This kind of attempt will always be "relative" to some degree. While the work remains the work, what is relative is the technical and musical ability of the player. Let us take a look at Mozart, for example, from the perspective of an Arthur Grumiaux and from that of a very young pupil. It is clear to whom my levels of difficulty are addressed: to the pupils or their teacher. I have, of course, always endeavoured to objectively assess the purely technical level of difficulty. But everything "between the lines" is, of course, left up to the judgement of each individual musician. Depending on our abilities, we perceive the "difficulty" of a work for violin differently, yet with the same conviction.
At the start, categorizing violin literature into levels of difficulty from 1 to 9 seemed to carry a certain risk as well as being unknown territory, yet I have now gained a deep insight into all of the works for violin in G. Henle Publishers' catalogue.
Ernst Schliephake © 2013