The so-called F. A. E. Sonata is an extraordinary collective work with an equally unusual title and concept. In late October 1853, Robert Schumann, Albert Dietrich and Johannes Brahms presented it as a surprise to their friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, who had come to Düsseldorf to give some concerts. The three letters of its title refer to Joachim’s life motto “Frei, aber einsam”; “free, but lonely”, and the sequence of notes derived from it – f-a-e – infuses the whole sonata, more or less hidden from view. Dietrich composed the first movement, and the 20-year-old Brahms the fiery Scherzo (WoO 2), while the romantic, opulent movements nos. 2 and 4 are unmistakably by Schumann (who later took them into his own 3rd Violin Sonata in a minor).
The F. A. E. Sonata remained unpublished during the lifetimes of its three composers and its dedicatee. It was not published until 1935. The present Henle edition by Michael Struck is taken from the “Violin Sonatas” volume of the New Brahms Complete Edition and supplies many new findings on problematic passages in the musical text and on the work’s genesis and reception history.
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