Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78, “Regensonate” (Brahms)
Movements
i Vivace ma non troppo ii Adagio – Più andante – Adagio iii Allegro molto moderato
Notes
Regensonate was composed by Johannes Brahms during the summers of 1878 and 1879 in Pörtschach am Wörthersee. It was first performed on 8 November 1879 in Bonn, by the husband and wife Robert Heckmann (violin) and Marie Heckmann-Hertig (piano).
Each of the three movements of this sonata shares common motivic ideas or thematic materials from the principal motif of Brahms’s two songs “Regenlied” and “Nachklang”, Op. 59, and this is why this sonata is also called the “Rain Sonata” (Regensonate).
