The six sonatas for violin and guitar in Niccolò Paganini's Opus 3 are the second installment in a group of 12 sonatas composed for that instrument pair (the others are the six sonatas of Op. 2) published in Milan in 1820 as part of a larger, bulk publication of Paganini music by the then-young but today still-extant Ricordi publishing house—the only publication of Paganini music during his lifetime, this 1820 effort saw the printing of the works now known as Opp. 1 through 5. Like those of Op. 2, the six Op. 3 sonatas are brief, two-movement works of the charming, docile variety meant not for public performance but for private: Paganini kept his interest in the guitar a secret from all but his closest friends and violinist/guitarist colleagues (and, in at least one case, lover: Paganini disappeared between about 1801 and 1805 to live with a Florentine noblewoman guitarist, an event which propelled his interest in the guitar, manifest since childhood, to new heights); together with these intimates he would play whole days and nights away at home, now taking the violin part, now taking the guitar part, and we are right to assume that most if not in fact all of his music for guitar and for violin and guitar was composed for such use—certainly the Op. 2 and Op. 3 sonatas, which date from about 1805 - 1810, were.

Only one of the Op. 3 sonatas has achieved any real fame during the two centuries since its birth: the Sonata in E minor, Op. 3, No. 6, is really very well-known as a showpiece and encore, arranged for violin and piano—probably simply because it is both the flashiest of all the Op. 2/Op. 3 sonatas, the whole of its latter portion being flush with exuberant parallel thirds in E major, and also the one that traverses the greatest expressive distance from affect, melancholy start to brilliant, happy finish. It follows the same basic format as the rest of the sonatas. A slow, cantilena-filled first movement leads to a quicker and more outgoing second one. Both movements are short, and, in a normal performance, none of the sonatas breaks the five-minute mark by very much. There is no doubting that the violin is the superior of the two instruments as far as these sonatas are concerned—the guitar plays mostly simple chords in true accompaniment fashion while the violin spins out velvet melodies and, in the second movements, light virtuoso stuff (technically demanding, yes, but not at all the jaw-drop-inducing stuff of Paganini's concertos and sets of variations).

The six sonatas of Op. 3 are: 1. A major, 2. G major, 3. D major, 4. A minor, 5. A major, 6. E minor.

© Blair Johnston, All Music Guide