Brahms - Cello sonata F-dur op.99. You can download the PDF sheet music Brahms - Cello sonata F-dur op.99 on this page. As Brahms reached his twilight years, he more and more often went to work during the summer in the countryside away from Vienna. In 1886, when he was aged 53, he decided to stay at Hofstetten on Lake Thun in Switzerland and it was there that he immersed himself in composition of his second cello sonata and second violin sonata. This was a highly fulfilled summer for him when he also began to feel romantically attracted to the contralto Hermine Spies. Whereas the Cello Sonata No. 1 has a brooding mood characterised by use of the cello at the lower end of its range, the second sonata features impassioned musical ideas in the clearest range of the instrument, with spiling passages in the middle and upper registers. Another major difference between this and the earlier work is the frequent use of tremolos and pizzicatos.
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The first movement, Allegro vivace, begins with a cello theme played above piano tremolos that gives the work as a whole its dynamic character. The tonality fluctuates subtly throughout the movement, but the music returns conventionally to the main key at the end after passing through a development section beginning in the key of F sharp minor.
The second movement, Adagio affettuoso, is a slow movement in F sharp major, a semitone above the key of the; opening movement. The emphasis is on the piano part in a manner reminiscent of the Intermezzi, while the cello accompanies in a reserved styte differencing subtly between pizzicato and arco playing. The third movement, Allegro passionato, is a scherzo in F minor in 6/8 time featuring frequent use of the compound rhythms of which Brahms was so fond. As a whole the movement incorporates stark oppositions between legato and staccato and between the main section and the dolce espressivo of the middle section.
The fourth movement, Allegro molto, is an exuberant rondo. Brahms's characteristic sense of musical humour is evident in the pizzicato theme played by the cello towards the end.
