Sonata I in E-flat Major for Violin and Piano

The form of the first movement of Sonata I in E-flat Major, Allegro moderato, is sonata-allegro form. The exposition has three thematic areas with theme one abbreviated in the recapitulation.

The second movement, Andante, in A-flat Major, is a gracious rondo, ABACA, with the violin participating in the whole movement.

The third movement, Allegretto, returns to E-flat Major, is also a rondo, ABACADA, but more complex. Section C is in the submediant, C Minor, and section D, in the subdominant of A-flat, is for keyboard alone, with this internal form of aba.

The sonatas are a fascinating and intriguing addition in the study of women composers of the eighteenth century such as Elizabeth Turner, Elizabeth Hardin, Jane Freer, Elizabeth Weichsell Billington, Cecilia Barthélemon, Maria Hester Park, Marianne Martinez, Anna Bon, and Elisabetta de Gambarini. (All available from HMP.) Unfortunately, these women were forgotten and overlooked by music historians in the succeeding years. Every woman composer that is recovered and every new edition that is published provides another link in the history of eighteenth-century women composers.