Violin works with connections to female violinists

January 15, 2011 at 11:31 PM

First blog of the New Year!

I've really been enjoying our wonderful thread on female violinists of the past. Inspired by that thread, I decided to create a master blog post listing as many violin works with connections to female soloists as I can. Check back on this post; I'll edit it as I come up with more pieces.

Atterberg, Kurt - Violin Concerto - Premiered by Alma Moodie

Bach - Double concerto for two violins - Wilma Norman-Neruda and Joseph Joachim performed this together in London

Barber - Violin Concerto - in 1949 Ruth Posselt premiered the revised version of the score that violinists use today; Eda Kersey gave the UK premiere in 1943

Bartok - Violin Concerto No 1 - written for his first love, virtuosa Stefi Geyer

Bartok - Violin Sonata No. 1 and 2 (Sz 75 and 76) - written for Adila Fachiri

Bartok - String Quartet No 1 - the main theme of the first movement is the “Stefi Geyer” theme

Bax - Violin Concerto - written for Heifetz; premiered by Eda Kersey

Beach, Amy - Romance - written for and premiered by Maud Powell

Beethoven - Kreutzer Sonata - played by Wilma Norman-Neruda and her husband Charles Halle in South Africa; their performance was so successful that after it was over, the concert was adjourned

De Beriot - Airs Variee - (don't know which one) - Performed by Camilla Urso as a child at her recital debut

Beethoven - Violin Concerto - Maud Powell played it with Gustav Mahler on the podium

Benjamin, Arthur - Romantic Fantasy - Eda Kersey premiered it

Brahms - Violin Concerto - played by Marie Soldat, a friend of Brahms’s; Brahms helped her find her del Gesu violin, which is now being played by Rachel Barton Pine; Gabriele Wietrowitz also played it to great acclaim

Bruch - Violin Concerto No 1 - Maud Powell made her New York Philharmonic debut with it - Teresina Tua made her American debut with it

Coleridge-Taylor - Violin Concerto in g-minor - Dedicated to and premiered by Maud Powell

Copland - Violin sonata - premiered by Ruth Posselt, with Copland at the piano

Conus - Violin Concerto in e-minor - Maud Powell gave the American premiere

Delius - Violin Sonata No 3 - Dedicated to May Harrison

Delius - Double Concerto (for violin and cello) - Premiered by sisters May and Beatrice Harrison

Dukelsky, Vladimir - Violin concerto - premiered by Ruth Posselt

Dvorak - Violin Concerto - Maud Powell gave the American premiere in 1893

Eichberg, Julius - wrote six parlor pieces for six of his most famous female students - find them here

Elgar - Violin Concerto - First recording made by Marie Hall; first played through in private performance with Lady Leonora Speyer on violin

Elgar - Violin Sonata - After playing it through with his last love Vera Hockman, he referred to it as “our sonata”

Erdmann, Eduard - Sonata for solo violin, op 12 - Dedicated to Alma Moodie

Faure - Violin sonata in A-major - Lady Leonora Speyer played it with Faure on the piano in 1909

Grieg - Sonata in c-minor - Inspired by Teresina Tua; played by Wilma Norman-Neruda with the composer at the piano

Hindemith - Violin concerto - premiered in New York by Ruth Posselt

Hill, Edward Burlingame - Violin concerto - premiered by Ruth Posselt

Holst - Concerto for two violins - Written for sisters Jelly d'Aranyi and Adila Fachiri

Holler, Karl - Violin Sonata No 2 - Written in memory of Alma Moodie

Hubay - Violin Concerto No 4 - Written for his student, Stefi Geyer

Ives - Violin Sonata No 2 - Patricia Travers made the first complete recording in 1951

Krenek, Ernst - Violin Concerto No 1 - Dedicated to and premiered by Alma Moodie

Krenek, Ernst - Sonata for solo violin - Dedicated to Alma Moodie

Moeran, EJ - Violin Sonata - premiered by Eda Kersey

Mozart - Sonata in b-flat, K 454 - Written for Regina Schlick Strinasacchi

Neruda, Franz - Berceuse Slave, op. 11 - Played by Franz's sister, the famous virtuosa Wilma Norman-Neruda

Pfitzner, Hans - Violin concerto, op 34 - Dedicated to and premiered by Alma Moodie

Pfitzner, Hans - Violin sonata - Dedicated to Alma Moodie

Piston, Walter - Violin concerto no 1 - Written for and premiered by Ruth Posselt

Ravel - Violin Sonata - Dedicated to Helene Jourdan-Morhange

Ravel - Sonata for Violin and Cello - Premiered by Helene Jourdan-Morhange on violin

Ravel - Piano Trio - Ravel met Helen Jourdan-Morhange when he saw her in a performance of this work

Ravel - Tzigane - Written for Jelly d’Aranyi

Reger, Max - Praludium und Fuge for solo violin - Dedicated to Alma Moodie

Rode - Violin Concerto No 4 - According to the Victorian book "Camilla: A Tale of a Violin", Camilla Urso played the second and third movements of this piece as her audition for the Paris Conservatoire at the age of seven

Sarasate - Romanza Andaluza; Jota Navarra - Dedicated to Wilma Norman-Neruda

Schoeck, Othmar - Violin Concerto - Written for Stefi Geyer

Schoeck, Othmar - Violin Sonata No 1 - Written for Stefi Geyer

Schumann - Violin Concerto - Joachim’s grand-nieces, Jelly d’Aranyi and Adila Fachiri, supposedly received word of the manuscript in a séance with Joachim

Sibelius - Violin Concerto - Maud Powell premiered this piece in America in 1906

Strauss - Violin Sonata - Leonora von Stosch (later Lady Speyer) played this with Strauss at the piano in the summer of 1914, right before WWI began

Maddalena Laura Sirmen - Duo for 2 violins in C-major - written by one of the first professional female violinists

Maddalena Laura Sirmen - wrote six violin concertos; one was praised by Leopold Mozart as being "beautifully written" in a letter to his son in 1778

Stravinsky - "Suite from themes, fragments, and pieces by Pergolesi" - Premiered by Alma Moodie (and Stravinsky)

Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto - Maud Powell premiered this piece in America in 1889

Vaughan-Williams - The Lark Ascending - Written for Marie Hall

Vaughan-Williams - Concerto Academico - Dedicated to Jelly d'Aranyi

Vieuxtemps - Ballade and Polonaise - Teresina Tua played it often in concerts in Europe and America

Vieuxtemps - Yankee Doodle Variations - Played by Wilma Norman-Neruda as a child when she made her debut in England

Vieuxtemps - Fantasie-Caprice op 11 - Marie Soldat made her debut with this piece

Vivaldi - His work was played by women performers at his school Ospedale della Pieta

Vivaldi - Violin concertos RV 387, 343, 229, 349, 248, 366 - Vivaldi wrote these six violin concertos especially for his protege Anna Maria della Pieta (I don't believe they are available in a modern edition, but I could be wrong on this; you can see the manuscripts for some of them on IMSLP). Apparently he wrote even more for her but I can't figure out which ones they were.

Wieniawski - Kujawiack (Mazurka) - to the best of our knowledge, the first piece a female violinist ever recorded (Dora Valesca Backer / Baker / Becker, 1898, available on Youtube)

Wieniawski - Gigue, Op. 23 - Dedicated to Wilma Norman-Neruda

Wieniawski - Capriccio Valse, Op 7 - Dedicated to Adalbert Wilkoszerwski and Teresa Milanollo

Wilson, Stanley - Violin Concerto - premiered by Eda Kersey

Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno - Violin concerto - written for Guila Bustabo (available on Youtube)

*Note that Maud Powell arranged many pieces and had many more dedicated to her. Thanks to the work of the Maud Powell Society and Rachel Barton Pine, these pieces have been resurrected. If you are interested, visit the Maud Powell Society's website for more information.

As you can see, it's a bit difficult to find a work that doesn't have some major connection to a female soloist! If anyone has any more to add to the list, feel free to add some in the comments.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 1:08 PM

Fascinating. Thanks for posting tha interesting and timpressive list. What is maybe troubling is that so much of it is Steffi Geyer and Maud Powell.

From Emily Liz
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 4:53 PM

There are more! It's just that I've researched Stefi Geyer the most; that's why her name appears so often. And more research has also been done on Maud Powell (not by me, but by others; heck, there's a whole website about her!). I know that once more research is done, the amount of connections will expand exponentially.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on January 16, 2011 at 10:14 PM

I thought it was so interesting that there were so many new names I hadn't heard of before, such as Alma Moodie. More new woman violinists to discover!

From stephen kelley
Posted on January 17, 2011 at 1:30 PM

A fine RCA lp of the Brahms with the Tuscan Strad was made about 1955 by Gioconda deVito.

Margaret Davis Kew (currently at Benedictine College, Atchison KS) recorded the Glazunov in Des Moines IA about the same time, and earlier had played it with the Hollywood Bowl Orch. She plays an Enrico Ceruti.

Milstein recorded the Bach dbl with Erica Morini.

Stefanie Chase has recorded an entire cd of Rudolf Friml.

From karla siqueira
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 12:20 AM

Thank you Emily for your contributions and share with us that names, wonderful violinists!

karla siqueira

From Christian Vachon
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 1:48 PM

Hi Emily,

This is indeed an impressive list of very interesting information. Thank you!

Cheers!

From Christa Honecker
Posted on January 19, 2011 at 12:10 PM

I have a shortcut version of the Elgar concerto with Marie Hall and the Schoeckconcerto with Stefy Geyer from Zürich, additionally a radio tape with the Schoeckconcerto with Aida Stucki, the teacher of A.S.Mutter and pupil of S.Geyer. Schoeck himself saw in Aida Stucki the best interpreter of his concerto. Aida Stucki was my teacher.S.Geyer allowed Aida Stucki, to play this concerto, when she still was the only interpreter, officially allowed to play the concerto.

I have 3 different versions of the Wolf-Ferrari-concert o with G.Bustabo(Munich 1958, Saarbrücken 1963 and Munich 1972).

If you are interested in any of them i will enjoy , to send you copies.

C.Honecker

From Emily Liz
Posted on January 19, 2011 at 4:22 PM

Hi Christa,

I'm emailing you. Right away!

Best, Emily

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