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Researching the 6 Solo Violin Sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe By RAY IWAZUMI
Asking questions—abstract questions in particular—is an important part of critical thinking. Regardless of whether the questions are ultimately answered or not, the consequent discoveries and realizations often make the whole thinking process worthwhile. I would like to share in this article how a few questions I asked myself about the Six Sonatas for Solo Violin of Eugène Ysaÿe led to my doctoral document and an involving and rewarding study.
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| A postcard of violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. (Photo by A. Ysaÿe) |
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It is difficult to summarize in a brief paragraph the vast achievements of the great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931). He was a supreme artist of his generation, an uncontested violin virtuoso in his prime, and a key individual in the history of the violin. He revolutionized violin performance with his wide expressive range and technical versatility, and greatly influenced the musical output of his contemporaries, including composers such as Debussy, Fauré, and Franck. As a composer, Ysaÿe followed the tradition of the performer-composer, writing a wide variety of virtuoso works which he incorporated into his concert programs. He also extended his talents as a composer by writing works for others—and in various genres as well, including opera.The Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27, are a landmark set of works that Ysaÿe composed late in his life, when he had already retired from the concert stage. These sonatas are now known to virtually every serious violinist and—at least, among violinists—they have entered the standard solo violin repertoire alongside the solo works of Bach and Paganini. Like many of my colleagues, I had my initial contact with the sonatas in my teens, and as I gradually learned all six and developed a real love and appreciation for them, I became increasingly captivated by the synthesis they presented of musical effect and the efficiency with which they are physically achieved. Every passage is so well designed and thought out that Ysaÿe's notice, printed beneath a table of his special indications in the score and translated here, is really no understatement: "Without denying that technical methods are of the individual's domain, one can say with certainty that the artist who will follow closely the composer's fingerings, bowings, nuances, and indications will always reach his goal more rapidly."I then began to ask myself how these sonatas were put together—not only in a musical sense, but also in a violinistic dimension (i.e., the many phrases and passages with often ingenious mechanical solutions). Fortuitously, manuscripts to three of the Six Sonatas are held in Juilliard's library. And with letters of reference from Jane Gottlieb, Juilliard's vice president for library and information resources, to conduct research at several Belgian institutions, I began a serious study of all the extant manuscripts of the Six Sonatas held here as well as abroad. My objective, inspired by the questions that I had asked myself, was to trace the possible thought processes of Ysaÿe as he composed these sonatas.Early on, it became evident that, beside a requisite study of Ysaÿe's life, I would need to do corollary studies in a number of other areas, including music editorship, specific musical genres, aesthetics of the time, and writings by Ysaÿe's contemporaries. Quite a few of the necessary resources were already available in the Juilliard library or the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and those that were not at hand were often available through interlibrary loans. The research process was frequently tedious, time-consuming, and challenging, but it was also often inspiring and fascinating. Specifically, it was absorbing to follow the development of ideas and decisions by comparing working drafts with the published versions, and then ponder the reasons for directions taken in the compositional process.As expected, I found no definite answers to my original questions—and only uncovered more questions in the research process. But the discoveries that were made and the possibilities they suggested were significant. Beyond the immediate practical value of making educated corrections to some editorial problems, it became clear that a greater level of appreciation of the sonatas can be reached through a contemplation of Ysaÿe's unique balance of musical and technical priorities. In this sense, Ysaÿe's contribution to violin playing is possibly yet underappreciated. Even without an in-depth musicological study, the Six Sonatas, like Paganini's Caprices, present many inspired ideas and explore a great variety of expressive possibilities. A detailed study, then, opens the possibility toward understanding and appreciating these sonatas on another level. It is with this intention that I would like to present my research, and it is my hope to share these studies with the greater musical community.Ray Iwazumi earned a D.M.A. in violin last May. His document was awarded the Richard F. French Prize for the outstanding document of 2004. He will be presenting a master class on the Six Sonatas of Ysaÿe on February 7 at 7:30 p.m., in Room 309.
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