Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-05-27
NEWS OF MUSIC
BY DAY THORPE

The most ambitious and
perhaps the most daring series
Of recitals to be given in
Washington this season starts
this afternoon in the Phillips
Gallery when Richard Dirksen
and Werner Lywen play the
first eight sonatas for violin
and keyboard by Mozart.
The concert will be the first
Of eight in which the entire
outputs sonatas and two
sets of variations-of the mas
ter will be presented in
chronological order.
The first four recitals will
be heard today and tomorrow
and next Sunday and Monday,
while the others will be given
In the fall.
Complete cycles Of the So
natas, quartetS and SYM
phonies of Beethoven given in
public are not rare: the cham
Der music of Brahms is fire.
quently heard in its entirety,
as is the piano music of
Chopin and the organ works
Of Bach. but even in a year
in which particular attention
is paid to Mozart there have
been few if any public cycles
of any of his longer categories
of compositions. The violin
works are we'll chosen for such
a festival, for. with the single
exception of his operas, no
branch of his art shows such
great variety or maintains a
higher level of quality.
No Middle Ground
The violin works of Mozart
are either examples of his
first efforts as a child prodigy,
or are completely mature
pieces: there is no middle
ground.
In the chronological catalog
of Kochel, the first sonata is
number six, and the 18th is
only number 3l-that is, about
half of Mozart's music written
between the ages OF Z and 10
Is made up of sonatas for violin
and harpsichord.
There follow six SonataS the
authenticity of which is dis
puted by some scholars and
maintained by others, but
which, in any event, are of
great musical interest; one
which has recently been shown
to have been written by Rau-
pach, although found in Mo-
zart's effects and published in
the collected edition. and %
mature masterpieces from K.
293a to K. SAT. from Mozart's
22d to 32d year.
When Mr.. Dirksen, associate
organist and choirmaster of
the Washington Cathedral,
and Mr.. Lywen, concertmaster
Of the National Symphony, first
decided to give a Mozart cycle
after a highly successful sin
gle recital of Mozart and Bach
sonatas last season. they
planned to make each of the
eight recitals a balanced cross
section of Mozart's art of the
fiddle sonata. However. as
they studied and rehearsed the
pieces they came to feel that
the advantages of showing the
development of the sonata-in
fact the development of the
very art of music-in Mozart's
style overbalanced the advan-
tages of the carefully planned
and heterogeneous individual
program. Perhaps their de-
cision will not be to every
ones taste, but certainly many
will applaud it.
Early Works Never Awkward
The Is early sonatas of
Mozart. which were his prin-
clpal vehicles in his senSa-
tional appearances as a child
prodigy in Paris, London and
The Hague. do not, of course.
have the variety and depth of
feeling of his later pieces, but
while usually simple and un-
complicated they are never
awkward or banal. They are
invariably keyboard Sonatas
with violin accompaniment
In fact. the violin parts of the
very first sonatas were added
much later to what were con-
ceived as solo pieces-and they
never show the true duet style
in which Mozart was later to
surpass all other composers
OF violin sonatas except Bach.
While they are thus rudi-
mentary as duets, the musical
interest is considerable. The
true Mozart melodic turn of
phrase appears on page after
page, and the minuets in par
ticular. like those of Haydn
In his earliest quartets, often
could be mistaken for those
written years later.
Furthermore. these sonatas
were first published at the
time their composer was play
ing item in public. and were
accepted as music in COMPETE
ton with the best sonatas of
Mozart's contemporaries. To-
day they do not appear to dis
advantage when compare
with the not negligible sonatas
of Mozart's models Schobert.
Raupach, or Honauer. 1t is
sometimes said that Mozart's
father. Leopold, a competent
musician. wrote the pieces
himself and passed them of
ne his sons The ALLEGATION, ie