Degree Name
Master of Music
Department or Program
Music
Advisor
Barta, Michael
Abstract
Three seminal works of the violin repertory will be examined: J.S. Bach’s Sonata no. 2 in a minor BWV 1003, Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, op. 14, and Johannes Brahms’ Sonata no. 3 in d minor. Each work will be placed into the necessary historical context, and traits of the works that could be attempts by the composer to express things beyond music will be investigated. Through performance of these masterworks I came to see them as very similar expressions, from three similar geniuses, of things that human beings have always felt. All three works could be said to have a sad character, so the treatment and division given by the different men from different eras to the balance of major and minor will be loosely compared through the chapters.