Cantilena (Violin Sonata) (print)

Cantilena is the central movement of the violin sonata Greetings and Farewell, a violin sonata in five movements, which takes as its point of departure a key phrase of a beloved Schubert song, one used by Schubert himself in his Fantasy for violin and piano, “Sei mir gegrüßt”:

The song doesn’t appear in the Cantilena, which is a gentle humming song to a strummed accompaniment. Greetings and a Farewell was written in 1997 on commission from The Schubert Club in celebration of the Schubert bicentennial. The work is dedicated to Nell Slater.