Wiriam Hyde Fano Sonata Gh gL MUNOK TPiENE IRIEW @ ppeee Wislle IIe YS IP IRIESS 66 CLOTILDE ST., MT. LAWLEY, W.A. 6050Composer’s Note This sonata in G minor, started in Sydney and finished in Adelaide, was very much a product of World War Il. It was, however, by no means written with the object of embodying my own experience of those terrible times. As with many a composition, some time after it has been completed, I can identify some of the emotions, or images, that are inherent in it. ‘The first movement was written in 1941, the year in which my husband, Marcus, was taken prisoner after battles in the middle East, Greece and finally Crete. He was to spend the remainder of the war in Germany. There was day-to-day anxiety, as communication was sparse and letters were censored. I came to regard the second subject of this movement as the “love” theme (Pitt tranquillo at bar 52). Within the warm appeal of Ab major, the dropping third seems to call his name. I little thought, at the time, that this was to become, in many guises, the unifying theme of the whole work. It retums in this movement powerfully at bar 100, in Dp major, and tentatively from bar 151, again in Ap major, moving dramatically towards a recapitulation (bar 168), within which the love theme returns in D major. There are only two places in the whole sonata where I have a “picture” in mind:- (a) from bar 233 in the first movement (misterioso) where I envisage some desolate, abandoned battle ‘ground (the first subject returns at low pitch, moving slowly, by augmentation); and (b) from bar 56 in the slow movement, where “Spring returns in Germany.” dispelling some of the gloom. The first movement concludes with a big climax, resounding in triumph, in D major. A very low chord is sustained, connecting it to the slow movement ‘The second movement, Andante solennemente, commences at a low pitch in D minor. The long experience of waiting becomes very real. The first eight notes of the main subject recur at bar 23, looking and sounding so different, within Dé notation. From bar 36 this feature becomes very cumulative, mounting to an immense climax ( /// ) at which the love theme surges back. The movement is long. A short coda, from bar 128, recalls the return of Spring in the left hand, but now leads to a final deep, despairing bare fifth in the bass, The third movement is a re-awakening, the realisation that life here must go on. A rather terse little three note figure in the opening bar is to play an important part. Only recently. in 2000. have I wondered if this was unconciously a diminution of the 3-note germ of the slow movement. Itis heard most compulsively, deep in the bass in the bar immediately before the recapitulation. and from bar 16] towards the end. I remember being stuck for a long time at bar 59. Nothing that I tried seemed relevant, until the new persuasive. more fluid feature came to mind and carried the work towards completion. It reaches a passionate utterance at bar 126 (again in my favourite key). It is heard, fleetingly, in the rather orchestrally conceived passage late in the same page (quasi obve, quasi flute). In bar 144 the figure is inverted. ‘And what of the love theme? At the change to E major, at bar 43 and later at bar 148, this reappears somewhat disguised in a flurry of semiquaver movement, reaching ecstatically into the high treble. Surely itis time to be thinking towards the moment of reunion which comes, triumphantly, in Bb major. The actual reunion with my husband came, after five and a half years, on June 20th, 1945, Miriam Hyde Sydney, April 2000Sonata for Piano Miriam Hyde I (1944) Allegro enersic Piano BE ———— Po er eee . ij —— ATs poco tare r 7 \ The! ae _ ob. ff be 77 D— bd In abate # wet ete J <= 5 SS eo rT v T T TT ee sa ve z “ge EAE © 2000 M Hyde KPO All Rights Reservedpoco dolente _—_—_. —. Published by The Keys Press KPoI3! 66 Clotilde St., Mt. Lawley, W.A, 6050AA seer de pd ge bd bg nme tN = (© 2000 M Hyde KPOI3I All Rights ReservedoY pocza poco ral bs Pid tranquillo espress. tre corde+) oN ; poco a poco pit mosso z Ee ft ," fP ! ‘motto cresc: ieee guna: © 2000 M Hyde KPOI3I All Rights Reservedpoco a poco cresc. molto ‘llargando brillante2 7 _ 2 ™ pl oe a nt| te - pit schercando ae A Sf7 ee wen je # fe tf He) te te —= itt erese ate ste aiasiaee Oe amabile G& ae a Published by The Keys Press KPOI3I 66 Clotilde St, Mt. Lawley, W.A. 6050(8) a con bras 4 : —emes,| “LhPublished by The Keys Press KPOI3I = 66 Clotilde St., Mt. Lawley, W.A. 6050lusingando ——__ eesempre m4 » ad ae Published by The Keys Press KPOI3E (66 Clotilde St., Mt, Lawley, W.A. 605013 doleissimo x - tS: fie (f SS “ft SS Cc aoe eo | e14 misterioso tempo con brio of 4 € Ba * 315 crese. al fine Ossia 1979 g loo F||[> 4 | ahal| Seanh “| cote | H y 2 5 + * In the Final bar return to the held notes in the LH without restriking, then release the pedal. forming a link into the slow movement after a long pause, Ossia: The alternative version of bars 248-251 was preferred by the composer, at the date shown, for her own performance, She has indicated that other performers may feel free to choose whichever version they may find the more felicitous. The 1979 version removes the stretching of the LH thumb up to Dp, which becomes more awkward at increasing altitude.I Andante solennemente ve J” CEED CEE PREPPED | ee Cee PF legatissimo i o be “Serer ciel | pitt mosso27 be @ Io Pr nh scherzando 5 poco a poco eresc. il, & te ste = = Sree tame st nr All Rights Reserved KPOI3I © 2000 M Hyde28 Meno allegro, con tenerezza agitato, stretto _espress. Published by The Keys Press KPOI3I (66 Clotilde St., Mt. Lawley, W.A, 60502 7 ge © 2000 M Hyde KPOI3I All Rights Reserved30 goa 3 ay tgececrre (ten.) leggiero oat Ce Puibliched us The Wrasse Benen ao.Tempo primo wo, a eo ‘ 3 : ft Sar ———— = ==: == poco allarg. GQ, atempo poco a poco a tempo lesgiers —- : = S39 oie, os ri = =, oo — € Sa = S32 m oR CRY 2 i guns Oa a 4 4 b ba | —=— we, be —= ft me cor } by | = — = — gee ee | fee oe es a 3 = Ss wo > ee = £ « Celitr Le | z sor <> —— 2 = 2 =e f —= t, te. £- 7 t,. = —=— = SS [ss Ss oes mp eg =rquasi oboe seg tf; Te= molto briltante Published by The Keys Press KPOI31 66 Clotilde St,, Mt. Lawley. W.A. 6050© 2000 M Hyde KPOI3E All Rights Reserved@ fuoco allargando h N connece cor Completed, Adelaide, 1944