New Jersey-born George Antheil travelled to Europe in 1922 determined to become “noted and notorious” as a pianist-composer, soon gaining a reputation as the “bad boy of music” with works such as the infamous Ballet mécanique. The first three violin sonatas come from this period, with the eclectic Violin Sonata No. 1 displaying the fiercely barbaric influence of Stravinsky, and the more jazzy No. 2 developing experiments in “musical cubism”. His Violin Sonata No. 3 achieves a synthesis of Stravinskian rhythms and Antheil’s more song-like tendencies, while the later No. 4 is built on Classical and Baroque models.