Sonata for clarinet and bassoon

Sonate pour clarinette et basson
Sonata for clarinet and bassoon
Chamber music by Francis Poulenc
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, where the piece was premiered in 1923
Catalogue FP 32a
Composed 1922 (1922)
Performed 4 January 1923 (1923-01-04): Paris
Scoring
  • clarinet
  • bassoon

The Sonate pour clarinette et basson (Sonata for clarinet and bassoon), FP 32a, is a piece of chamber music composed by Francis Poulenc in 1922. Its total execution time is approximately 7 to 8 minutes.

Genesis

This sonata is the third work of chamber music of the composer after the sonata for two clarinets and the sonata for piano, 4 hands (FP 8). It was written between August and October 1922 at the same time as the Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone (FP 33).[M 1] It was premiered by the clarinettist Louis Cahuzac at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on 4 January 1923 at a Satie-Poulenc concert organized by Jean Wiener.[1]

Reception and legacy

From its creation, critics were good, especially those of Charles Koechlin that Poulenc reports in one of his letters. He specifies that his master very much liked his "minions" (?), which he found very well written. This is the key".[M 1] As for the biographer Henri Hell, he found that the two pieces written the same year were "acid and tender, well written for wind instruments, they had all the quality of the sonata for two clarinets, contemporary of the Trois mouvements perpétuels".[H 1]

Style

This sonata is close in clarity and precision to that for two clarinets composed four years earlier.[M 1]

Structure

Like most of the composer's chamber music pieces, with the exception of the Cello Sonata, the sonata for clarinet and bassoon has three short movements:

  1. Allegro
  2. Romance
  3. Final

Selected discography

  • Karl Laystera and Milan Turkovic (bassoon)
  • Paul Meyer (clarinet) and Gilbert Audin (bassoon): Francis Poulenc - Intégrale Musique de chambre - RCA Red Seal

References

  1. According to the cover of the record Francis Poulenc - Intégrale Musique de chambre - RCA Red Seal, p. 6
  1. p. 63
  1. 1 2 3 p. 41

Bibliography

  • Hell, Henri (1978). Francis Poulenc (in French). Fayard. p. 388. ISBN 2-213-00670-9.
    • Machart, Renaud (1995). Poulenc (in French). Éditions du Seuil. p. 252. ISBN 2-02-013695-3.
    • Schmidt, Carl B. (1995). The Music of Francis Poulenc (1899–1963): A Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-816336-7.
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