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ViolinMuse


Details

Sarah Wood full profile / Violin and Piano / 2 musicians

Other players: Miles Graber


Full program notes

We have chosen to present music on this program which are written for and/or by famous women violinists.

We start off with a delightful violin sonata by Giuseppi Tartini. One of Tartini's pupils was the well-known violinist Maddalena Sirmen, and the story goes that Tartini wrote a letter to Sirmen when she was a teenager, outlining a course of study for her to follow as she was not able to come have a lesson in person. That letter was eventually transformed into one of his most famous treatises about violin playing. Since we could not program a treatise, we will be playing this sonata.

We move next to one of the most famous sonatas in the violin repertoire, W.A. Mozart's K. 454. This sonata is dedicated to Regina Strinasacchi, an Italian violinist who debuted the sonata with Mozart for the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II in 1784. (Apparently, it was met with "general approval".)

Next, we will perform the short piece "Improptu", written by the touring violinist Teresa Milanollo, for herself. Following this are selections written both by and for the impressive American violinist Maud Powell, including the emotive "Aria" written for Powell by the German-Texan composer, Carl Venth.

Next comes the tour de force piece Tzigane, written for the Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Aranyi by Claude Debussy in 1924.

We close the program with a short but gorgeous piece by Kala Ramnath - herself a world-famous Indian violinist - written in 2012 for the inimitable Hilary Hahn that features the sonic world of Carnatic Indian singing.


Historical context

Follows the history of music written for and/or by famous women violinists, from Maddalena Sirmen to Hilary Hahn.


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