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22 BRAHMS_ CELLO SONATAS
Robert Hausmann took the work into his repertoire and played it regularly on the
Continent and also in England throughout the 1870s. His big sound, which worked
wonders in solo music but also in the quartet founded by Joseph Joachim, and
his transcendental technique inherited from Piatti had considerably modified the
aspect of the work: at last the cello had become the dominant partner.
When Brahms envisaged a second cello sonata, he quite naturally composed it for
Hausmann. This was in the summer of 1886, at Hofstetten on the shores of Lake
Thun, inaugurating three years of intensive composition in the happy surroundings
of this summer resort which saw the blossoming of his finest lieder, two violin
sonatas and the Double Concerto, the last-named also inspired by Robert
Hausmann.