Roy Agnew: Sonata Legend (1949)

Abstract

"If the Sonata Fantasie had four themes, the Sonata Poeme three, and the Sonata Ballade two, then it would be logical to assume that the next work from Agnews pen would be monothematic, and that is indeed the case with the Sonata Legend (Capricornia). This work was not published until 1949, five years after Agnews death, although he certainly performed it a number of times. The subtitle, which suggests that the work has a hidden program based on the Xavier Herbert novel, is not to be taken too literally. Agnew often said that he appended titles after a work was composed; he was in no sense a programmatic composer, although it is probable the violent mood of the Herbert novel gripped his imagination. Ihe Sonata Legend is the most compressed of the series, partly due to the use of just one theme, but also because of the compression process at work in Agnews compositional technique. The sonata is intense, and emotionally draining to perform. It is a kind of antithesis of the Sonata Poeme, being largely chordal in texture, and consisting of varying statements of the one theme. In some ways, this is a very stable sonata tonally, beginning and ending firmly in the key of Eflat minor." -- Larry Sitsky