The violin concerto of Sibelius in D minor, opus 47, was composed in 1905 and first played by Karl Halir in Berlin, October 19, 1905. It is a work of far greater power than that of Glazounoff. Mrs. Rosa Newmarch in her monograph on Sibelius,[58]likens the difficulties in it to those of the Tschaikowsky concerto, which were for a while considered insurmountable. The concerto is in three movements of which the first is gloomy and forbidding, though poignant in the extreme, the second noble and more classic, the last—the coda of which was added by Pietro Floridia—savagely effective.
In Germany we meet with Sarasate again in the second concerto and Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch. These are the best known of Bruch’s works for violin and orchestra, among which may be mentioned a first concerto, opus 26, in G minor, a Romance, opus 42, an Adagio Appassionato, opus 57, and a Serenade, opus 75. The second concerto, opus 44, was, according to Bruch, inspired by stories of the Carlist wars in Spain, told by Sarasate. It was composed in Bonn in 1877, ten years after the first, and was first publicly performed by Sarasate, in London, during the fall of that year. In form it is free and rhapsodical, consisting of an adagio movement, then a movement in recitative style, and a final rondo. All through the work the solo violin predominates. The Scottish Fantasia, composed a year or two later, was dedicated to Sarasate. The use of Scotch songs in the five movements is so free that English critics could hardly recognize them, and were angry.
Among more recent works for the violin by German composers the sonata by Richard Strauss stands conspicuous. This is an early work—opus 18—and its popularityis already on the wane. There is a concerto in A major, opus 101, by Max Reger, and aSuite im alten Stilfor violin and piano, opus 93. There are concertos by Gernsheim, as well: but on the whole there has been no remarkable output of music for the violin in Germany since that of Brahms and of Max Bruch.
Karl Goldmark, the Bohemian composer, has written two concertos, of which the first, opus 28, in A minor, offers an excellent example of the composer’s finished and highly pleasing style. The second concerto, without opus number, is among his later works. Two suites for piano and violin, opus 11 and opus 43, were made familiar by Sarasate. Dvořák’s concerto, opus 53, has been frequently played. He composed as well a Romance, opus 11, for violin and orchestra, and a sonatina, opus 100, for violin and pianoforte. The works of Jenö Hubay are of distinctly virtuoso character.
The Italian Leone Sinigaglia became known to the world by his concerto for violin, opus 20, in A major, played in Berlin in 1901 by his countryman, Arrigo Serrato. Later works include aRapsodia piemontesefor violin and orchestra, and a Romance for the same combination, opus 29. The violin music of Emanuel Móor, including a concerto and a remarkably fine suite for violin unaccompanied, has yet to be better known. Georges Enescou first attracted attention by compositions for the violin. On the whole, however, it may be said that the violin is awaiting a new contribution to its literature. This contribution is doubtless delayed by the great attention given at the present day to the piano, the orchestra, or other combinations of instruments, by which the modern growth in harmony and the change in ideas of polyphony may be given a full expression. Until these various ideas have become firmly rooted and well-grown, the violin will profit but vicariously by them.