Amanda Röntgen-Maier, Violin Sonata in B Minor (1873)

Die Seejungfrau got a lot of love last week — I’m really glad y’all enjoyed it!

This week we’re heading north to Sweden, to composer-violinist Amanda Röntgen-Maier. She was the first woman ever to graduate with a Director of Music diploma from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, in 1873 — the same year she wrote this sonata. She was an extraordinary violinist herself, and that really shows in her compositions. She wrote a number of fantastic works for the violin, including her Violin Concerto of 1875, which she premiered herself. Like the Clarke viola sonata we had a couple of weeks back, everything in this piece sits beautifully for the instrument, and there are some fun virtuoso moments for the soloist too.

Maier toured Scandinavia and Europe as a concert soloist, and unusually for her time, also managed to get some of her works published, including this sonata. Some alterations to the slow movement were suggested for publication, and she responded diplomatically but firmly:

Of course I will not let the opinion of Dr. Hiller go unnoticed — but also it would not be easy for me to change. … I have…often played the sonata and even found that the movement Mr. Hiller mentioned has made an impression on the audience… My wish would be that it remains in its old condition. I don’t want it in any way to seem obnoxious of me, it is certainly sincere that I don’t know how I would change it.

The sonata was published in its original, unaltered form.

Röntgen-Maier’s public career was curtailed by her marriage to composer Julius Röntgen in 1880. But she continued to perform in the couple’s salon, including playing some of her own works. She completed her final major work, the Piano Quartet in E Minor, in 1891. She died in 1894, aged just forty-one.

The sonata is in three movements:

1. Allegro

2. Andantino

3. Allegro molto vivace

• Do you hear any loneliness in this piece?

• Where do you feel most welcome?

Rachel Kolly & Pallavi Mahidhara, Ladies First

Truthfully I think this sonata is still waiting for its “wow” recording. But this new rendition by Rachel Kolly and Pallavi Mahidhara is lovely, and they give a particularly compelling interpretation of the slow movement.

For more information about Röntgen-Maier, please visit Swedish Musical Heritage, where you can also download her scores.