Brahms Violin Sonatas

Brahms was a severe critic of his own work, often assailed with uncertainty and reluctant to publish works he considered immature or incomplete. With the exception
of the Scherzo in C flat for the Sonata F.A.e. he made his first violin solo work known to the public only at the age of forty five with the publication of the Concerto in D major, op. 77.  Cheered by the great success he had had in the summer of that year, 1878, he set to work composing the first of his three splendid violin sonatas. They are the only ones we know, as three previous similar sonatas were destroyed by the composer himself. Brahms wrote these three masterpieces during three happy and fruitful summer holidays which he spent away from the city, inspired by the mountain scenery.