Composed 1886; 23 minutes

“I am furious at not being a string player,” Edvard Grieg told violinist and composer Johann Halvorsen, a fellow Norwegian, in 1901. But, like both Brahms and Bruch turning to Joachim and other leading violinists of the day, Grieg made up for his lack of skill on the violin by seeking the counsel and friendship of professional violinists. He was aware of how far he had travelled over the course of his three violin sonatas: “They are representative of the three periods of my evolution – the first naïve and full of melodic ideas, the second nationalistic, and the third turning to much vaster horizons.” First performed in 1887 by the renowned Russian violinist Adolph Brodsky and the composer himself at the piano, the Third Sonata was an immediate success. Within three months he told a friend: “Just think, the new sonata has already sold about 1,500 copies.” 

The opening movement blends drama and passion with Grieg’s characteristic lyricism. It begins powerfully, with an urgent, passionate theme rising from the violin’s lowest string, soon evolving into a more vulnerable secondary theme over tremolo piano chords. The two themes are related, reflecting the thematic unity that underpins the sonata. The slow movement opens radiantly, high in the piano. Its outer sections convey gentle nostalgia enveloping a playful intermezzo. The finale revives the urgency of the first movement, mellowed by a noble, modal second theme. The contrast between these ideas drives the music to a triumphant coda.