Antonin Dvorak | Violin Sonatina G Major Op.100 | Violin and Piano

Description

The Sonatina for Violin and Piano, op. 100, was one of the works that Antonín Dvorák wrote during his first sojourn in America from September 1892 to May 1894. The second volume of his so-called American sketchbooks contains nine pages of sketches for the Sonatina dating from 19 to 22 November 1893. Dvorák wrote the date 23 November 1893 at the beginning of his final copy, and dated the ends of the individual movements 24 November (first movement), 25 November (second and third movements) and 3 December 1893 (fourth movement). On 12 December he wrote to his friend Antonín Rus: “And now I hereby announce to you that, with God’s aid, I have just completed my hundredth work! It is a sonatina for violin and piano, and I wrote it for my children Toník and Otla”. Announcing the completion of the work to his publisher, Fritz Simrock, on 2 January 1894, he added: “… It is intended for young people (and dedicated to my two children), but grownups, adults, should also entertain themselves with it as far as they are able…” Thus, Dvorák celebrated his compositional centenary, not with a grand symphony or oratorio, but with a piece of chamber music which was originally designed for domestic musicmaking within his own family