Pinto: Three Sonatas for Pianoforte with Violin

The English composer George Frederick Pinto  (1785–1806) was, according to his contemporaries, one of the most precocious young stars of the London Pianoforte School, and his death at age twenty extinguished a promising career. Pinto's surviving music includes works for solo keyboard, songs, and these three sonatas for keyboard and violin, which he composed in the last year of his life. Coming from the "accompanied keyboard sonata" tradition of Haydn, J. C. Bach, Clementi, and Hummel, the sonatas give a major role to the keyboard, while elevating the importance of the violin to a level approaching that of the true duo sonata. The sonatas combine the London Pianoforte School's virtuosity with almost Schubertian lyricism.

Sonata No. 1 in G Minor

  Allegro moderato con espressione

  Adagio

  Rondo: Allegretto grazioso

Sonata No. 2 in A Major

  Allegro moderato con espressione

  Andante

  Rondo: Allegro con brio

Sonata No. 3 in B-flat Major

  Allegro moderato con espressione con spirito

  Adagio affettuoso e con sentimento

  Rondo: Allegro moderato

 

Appendix: An Embellished Version of the Adagio of Sonata No. 1