Violin Sonata no. 2 in E flat major, op. 102
Romantic Sonata Violin and Piano
In brief

The sonata unfolds with a lyrical yet often playful mood, alternating sustained cantilenas and sprightly episodes where character comes from crisp accents and shifts of articulation, calling for a playing that is both singing and precise. Technically, watch the Phrasing (3.6/5): you must shape long melodic arcs by finely controlling the bow gesture (speed, pressure and contact point) so the lines breathe, and the Vibrato (3.6/5) which requires regulating vibrato width and speed on held notes and during large left‑hand shifts. From a contextual standpoint, the work belongs to the Romantic period and sits among the composer's later chamber pieces that combine formal clarity with Romantic expressiveness.

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Sheet music

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Formation

Violin and piano · 2 performers

Required forces
Violin 1 performers
Piano 1 performers
Playable parts
Violin Piano
MusicCoach difficulty
78/100
Advanced
Likely range : 70–86/100
Confidence : 47% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 8

Estimated from our difficulty score, not taken from an exam syllabus. Checked against 333 works on the ABRSM syllabus: the exact grade is right 7 times out of 10, and within one grade 99 times out of 100.

Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.

Where this work sits
050100

Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.

The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.

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Difficulty sources
MusicCoach expertise
72
72/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
85%
Among Camille Saint-Saëns
90%
Era Romantic
95%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Technique
Bow legato
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
2
Interpretation
Phrasing
2
Tone
Vibrato
2
Style
Romantic style
2
Technique
Position changes
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Technique
Fast passages
1
Technique
General technique
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

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