Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38

Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38

Johannes Brahms started the Op. 38 in 1862, it is a traditional 3 movement sonata, eventually finishing the piece in 1865. This piece helped cement Brahms as one of the most influential chamber style composers throughout the romantic period. Walter Niemann said that Op. 38 could be called “the Elegant and Pastoral Sonata”, and is one of the composer's most famous works. This Sonata was dedicated to a friend of his Gänsbacher, from Viennese. Gänsbacher brought Brahms an invitation to conduct the Singakademie, a very large and prestigious german choir. In addition to the invitation, Gänsbacher secured Brahms the manuscript of Schubert’s Wanderer for only 32 florins. In the beginning, Op. 38 was supposed to have 4 movements but Brahms removed the 4th part, Adagio. This missing part tantalized Gänsbacher and many others, but Brahms insisted that no look at the missing section let alone alter his work. He later used the removed piece in the second cello sonata. The first movement of Opus 38 is called Allegro non troppo, according to Robert Haven Schauffler, “This piece starts as any cello piece should, with a long, noble, highly masculine, slightly elegiac melody which well covers the most effective range of the instrument and ushers in the most successful of the movements.” Some say that in Allegretto quasi Menuetto, the second movement, Brahms just did not realize his dream. It opens soft and staccato, or when each sound or note