Richard Strauss’ Sonata for Violin and Piano in E flat major op. 18 is a work with a Janus face, illustrating the past and the present and pointing ahead to the future. It mirrors the composer’s musical roots, such as in the second movement which contains references to Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’ and Schubert’s Der Erlkönig, whilst the first and final movements are influenced by Schumann, on the one hand, and express Strauss’ current enthusiasm for Wagner’s Tristan, on the other. By contrast, the hidden allusions to his own tone poem Don Juan show the way the composer wanted to go in the near future.
