In his “Sonata for violin and piano” (1982/83), Martin Lichtfuss unconditionally chose the presumably most relevant musical form of the 18th and 19th centuries as the basis of his design; he did so without questioning it or wanting to fill it in with “new content”. On the contrary, the composer attempted to apply the model of the classical sonata as such and without any claim to a “innovative” interpretation or reshaping – a model which, in the past, was interpreted exhaustively, even if that might appear banal at first glance, for it was precisely such banality that formed the incentive and starting point of this composition.

In doing so, the superficiality of a form that has been exploited for centuries was combined with a deliberately extroverted musical language that also acknowledges eclectic effects. For his own pleasure, Lichtfuss did not refrain from using “sensational” elements in this piece without implying a stylistic or even ideological statement. And even if, in his later works, he abandoned the musical means chosen in this violin sonata, this piece nevertheless offered a stimulating tension between a genre often overloaded, especially in the 19th century, and the possibility of its playful and unpretentious interpretation from a contemporary point of view. In this respect, the plausibility of the classical sonata form in the present was questioned on the one hand; but on the other hand, it was precisely this form which was, after all, recognized by the composer in a very personal and also unique way.