Lord Boyle's choice
Sir: Since Hans Keller challenged readers to think of a dozen great E major works, perhaps you could find space for the following baker's dozen of examples that have occurred to me. (1 4) Bach's E major works include not only the great Violin Concerto, but also the 3rd Sonata for Violin and harpsichord (BWV 1016), the radiant sixth French Suite (BWV 817), and the particularly fine Prelude and Fugue in E ('the saints in glory') from the second half of the 48. (I am deliberately leaving out the Third Partita for solo Violin). (5 -6) I share Mr Keller's great admiration for Haydn's String Quartet Op.54 No.3, and like him should not wish to include the early quartet Op.17 No 1. But Haydn did write another E major chamber work of outstanding beauty and originality his Trio No.28. (7 8) Mozart's E major Piano Trio (K 542) and Beethoven's E major Piano Sonata Op. 109 obviously choose themselves49 13) My remaining examples of E major works would be Spohr's Octet Op.32 (an eminently beautiful work, as Tovey would have said, even if hardly great), Chopin's fourth Scherzo, Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, Dvorak's String Serenade Op.22 (if Mr Keller jibs at this choice, he'll go down in my estimation), and lastly Delius's Sea-Drift. Of course there are also several masterpieces of song forever associated with E major, like Schubert's Der Lindenbaun and Faure's Le Parfum Imp erissable.
Edward Boyle Vice-Chancellor's Lodge,
Grosvenor Road, Leeds
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