Masterclass: Grieg’s Violin Sonata no.2 in G major

Grieg’s Second Violin Sonata is dedicated to Johann Svendsen, one of the greatest Norwegian composers, who was also an excellent violinist. The two men were very close friends and Grieg admired Svendsen because he had the ability to write big symphonies and concertos, while Grieg had problems writing large-scale works, except for his Piano Concerto.

Grieg wrote three violin sonatas. He was quite young (23) when he wrote the First Sonata, and in love with his future wife Nina Hagerup, so it’s very fresh and vivid music: you could call it a spring sonata. The Third, in C minor, is the big one that Grieg described as having an international musical language and a wider horizon. The Second Sonata is the most Norwegian. It is not played much outside Norway, although Jascha Heifetz recorded it. It’s very interesting to listen to other interpretations that are different from the traditional Norwegian style, although I keep to the Norwegian tradition.

It would be useful for violinists to listen to Hardanger fiddlers’ way of playing before learning the Second Sonata because that’s the spirit in which Grieg wrote it: he was very much inspired by Norwegian folk music. The violinist Ole Bull discovered Grieg when the composer was only 15 years old and persuaded his parents to let him go to Leipzig to study music. There he learnt to make music in the German Romantic manner, but Bull wanted him to use Norwegian folk music in his works and managed to persuade him. Bull’s influence was strong, and without it Grieg’s music would probably have been much more like Schumann or Mendelssohn. Grieg himself said: ‘Ole Bull was my saviour – he showed me the beauty and originality of Norwegian folk music.’

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