Rossini: Sonata No. 5 in E Flat Major for Strings

Sonata No. 5 in E Flat Major for Strings (1804)

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

Gioachino Rossini was born in Pesaro, a small city on the Adriatic coat of Italy, on 29^th February, 1792. Son of musical parents, at the age of 14 he became a student at the famed Accademia Filarmonico in Bologna. Already he had shown remarkable precocity in composition, having composed six sonatas for strings at the age of 12, and had gained valuable first-hand experience in the world of the opera house. Always precocious, Rossini’s first work for the stage dates from 1810 (when, technically he was only three years of age - !) He gained wide notice with his opera, L’Inganno felice (1812), and was off and running with a quite astonishing string of 35 stage works, both serious and comic, with at least one new work every single year (but one) until his last opera, William Tell was performed in 1829. Then, at the advanced age of 37 (counting the years, not the birthdays!), Rossini abruptly withdrew from the world of opera, and, indeed, wrote only a handful of compositions for public performance during the final 39 years of his life. (There were, however, many small works for piano and voice which were written for private use, and only published after the composer’s death.) Wealthy, celebrated, and quite comfy in his splendid residence in Paris, Rossini gave his attention to elegant soirees, dinner parties, conversation and luxurious laziness on a grand scale. He received an endless stream of eminent visitors until the day he died (including a quite amusing afternoon entertaining a rather nervous young Richard Wagner), and enjoyed life to the fullest.

The six sonatas for strings of 1804 were composed for a curious string quartet ensemble comprising two violins, cello and string bass – no part for the viola. They are peprhaps more effectively heard, as in today’s concert, played by a larger string ensemble. (Another oddity is the use of the word “sonata,” where a more appropriate choice of title might have been the term “sinfonia.”) The Fifth Sonata in E Flat, is quite characteristic of the set, exhibiting extremes of suave lyricism and crowd-pleasing flights of orchestral virtuosity in which the mettle of the players is put to a severe test.

The opening allegro vivace is laid out as a relaxed sonataform, with a quiet, songful opening theme of sustained lyricism, followed by a rhythmically pointed secondary theme over a springy figure in the bass. Soon triplets bound into view, followed by waves of sixteenth-note figuration in the violins, rounding out the exposition with mischievous energy. The development is brief, recalling the primary theme, then, after a pause, recapitulating the opening material much as before. This time chief difference is that the violins are catapulted into their upper reaches, and pushed to their technical limits before bringing the movement to an emphatic conclusion.

The brief andantino is a quiet intelude, with gently arching melodic lines (rather operatic in character) over a pulsing grazioso background. Midway the music moves into unexpectedly chromatic territory, with sharp accents and dark harmonic textures, soon relaxing into a quiet ending.

The finale (allegretto) is certainly the most distinctly “Rossinian” part of the work, with its bouncing dotted rhythms and strolling gait, which is bound to recall many an animated episode in one or another of the composer’s popular opera overtures. A second theme is, if anything, even more brilliant and challenging for the players than any of the similar pyrotechnical moments of the first movement – in fact, the free-wheeling violin writing almost suggests the Rossini of the exciting concert works for clarinet and orchestra. There is no development, the music quickly swinging back to the initial material, nimbly romping onward to an exhilarating finish.

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