Haydn - Sonatas for Violin and Piano

August 27, 2006 at 10:49 PM · I agree with you that the Haydn Sonatas are lovely. I have a copy of 9 Sonatas that were put out by Schirmer a while back.

I think that the reason for their lack of popularity is that they are primarily transcriptions and arrangements of other Haydn works, such as string quartets and piano sonatas. A few of them are also a bit "piano heavy," so violinists, if they can locate the music at all, feel that they don't have enough to do. Many of the Mozart sonatas are like that, too.

As a Haydn lover and violinist, I'm just pleased to have another way to play and experience Haydn's music.

August 28, 2006 at 07:36 AM · thanks John

Just to clarify - Did Haydn arrange them or were they arranged as sonatas by others after his death?

August 28, 2006 at 05:24 PM · haydn had the misfortune of having two near-contemporaries who were musically superior to, well, to everybody.

August 29, 2006 at 03:56 AM · Dear Bram: I don't know how these works came to be arranged. It was common particularly during the 19th century, before stricter copyright laws, for enterprising publishers to publish successful works transcribed by in house composers/arrangers. This was commonly done without the composer's knowledge or approval.

I don't have any information about who did the arranging, but the Schirmer edition attractive and I'd definitely recommend it. At this point, I think that even Haydn's heirs would approve!

September 2, 2006 at 09:25 AM · Sorry to reply to my own post (again), but:

Just read the note on Amazon for the recordings by Menuhin / Britten which says that the G Major sonata (first in the David edition) is the only "original" violin sonata written by Hayden - so the others must be transcriptions.

The G Major sonata is very appealing, and happens to be the one I like best and am playing... So that is good luck for me!!!