The name “Spring Sonata” — not original — likely derives from the gentle sweetness of the first theme in the opening Allegro, and from the rising brightness that emerges suddenly with the transition to the second theme. This element — contrary to the more common structural norms — plays a central role both formally and expressively throughout the development section.

The Adagio is a purely contemplative movement of accompanied melody, which in some respects recalls the equivalent movement in the Fourth Symphony.

In the Scherzo, a lively rhythmic figure dominates — a gesture that Beethoven would revisit and expand many years later in the second movement of the Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97.

The final Rondo — whose refrain calls to mind a phrase from the aria “Non più di fiori” in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito — unfolds with a pleasant air of nonchalance, occasionally counterbalanced by more demanding and substantial episodes in the interludes.

Schering identifies the central idea of the sonata in another sung-and-spoken drama by Goethe from 1776: Claudina von Villa Bella, from which Beethoven had already set an aria to music (No. 28b).

In the first part, there is a chorus of peasants presenting Claudina with gifts and flowers. In the second, Claudina reflects on the bouquet Pedro has given her — more precious to her than all the other gifts. The third movement features a playful duet between Claudina and Pedro. The fourth presents a song by the peasant women Camilla and Sibilla as they approach; they greet Claudina courteously, then, once alone, mock her behaviour and words. Finally, there is an affectionate farewell between Claudina and Pedro, once again ridiculed by the two women.

Among Beethoven’s ten violin sonatas, Op. 24 is recognised as the one with the most distant origins. Although composed in tandem with Op. 23, Beethoven based its material on earlier sketches dating back to 1794–95. (These sketches are to be published separately and are found in the Landsberg Sketchbook: Ein Notierunsbuch von Beethoven aus dem Besitze der Preussischen Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, edited by Karl Lothar Mikulicz, B&H – Leipzig 1927, corresponding approximately to Biamonti 226 and following.)

The sonata was later completed and revised in 1801 — during the same period in which Beethoven was working on the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. Like its companion, it was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries and published by Mollo. As if to emphasise its enforced pairing with Op. 23, it initially appeared as Op. 23 No. 2. Only with the second printing was it assigned its own opus number — the Op. 24 by which it is known today.

It is worth noting that the overused subtitle “Spring” was not attached to the sonata until after the composer’s death. Publishers, critics, and audiences alike came to embrace it as a tribute from the next generation — who, in their enthusiasm, believed they were doing justice to the work by evoking its sunny and lyrical character. Indeed, even the staunchest opponents of such rhetorical labelling have acknowledged the enchanted état de grâce that pervades the sonata from first bar to last — that white, unshakeable serenity — which can justly be associated with the enchantment of spring. There is, in fact, nothing in the piece that reveals the inner turmoil of a man as wounded as Beethoven was at the time of its composition, nor any hint of the “creative storms” soon to be unleashed in the Eroica.

Op. 24 — the first of Beethoven’s violin sonatas to adopt a four-movement structure — thus remains the perfect symbol of divine simplicity; a simplicity that Beethoven achieved only rarely, but to which Mozart, by contrast, had accustomed us so generously.

(Poggi–Vallora)

 [By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]