Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Program note written by Jacob Farmer
Movements:
I. Allegro malinconico
II. Cantilena
III. Presto giocoso
Approximate Performance Time:
12 minutes
Difficulty:
Advanced Intermediate – appropriate for advanced high school and college undergraduates
Recordings:
Paula Robison & Ruth Laredo. Sonata. Amerco, LLC, 1991. MP3.
Source Article:
Wyber, Jana L. A Study of Francis Poulenc’s Melodic Style As Found in the Sonata for Flute and Piano (1956-57), the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1962) and the Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1962).1990. Print.
Biography:
Francis Poulenc was a French musician and composer born in 1899. His mother made him practice Mozart, Schubert, and Chopin on the piano as early as five years old. Poulenc’s uncle introduced him to Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, to which Stravinsky became and remained an admiration of Poulenc throughout his life. Poulenc did not attend the Paris Conservatory since his father did not want him to study music exclusively, but that did not stop his endeavors. His first compositions were published thanks to the help of Stravinsky: Toréador, the Sonata for 2 Clarinets, the Sonata for Piano 4 hands, and the three Mouvements perpétuels. Poulenc died in 1963, and at his request, his funeral only featured music composed by Bach.
Sonata Poulenc, F. This Sonata For Flute and Piano is a virtuosic flute solo by renowned influential French composer Francis Poulenc. Written in 1956-57, this is an elegant, dreamy chamber work and he has demonstrated his obvious compositional skill, also highlighting the French affinity with the sweet sounds of the flute. The clarinet sonata is one of three that Poulenc wrote for solo woodwind and piano, part of a planned set that he did not live to complete. A sonata for flute was composed in 1956, while one for oboe was completed a few weeks after the one for clarinet. A sonata for bassoon was never begun. When Francis Poulenc was born in Paris on 7 January 1899, he inherited a share of both viewpoints. His mother, born Jenny Royer, came from a long line of Parisian craftsmen and brought with a strain of freethinking independence and a deep love of the arts. Both the Flute Sonata and the Clarinet Sonata, the latter dedicated to the memory of. From the Publisher. If Poulenc's musical debt in his late woodwind sonatas is rather to Stravinsky - as the chromatic inflexions of the 'Cantilena' or the bustling neo-classicism in the finale of his Flute Sonata show - then the plan to write a series of chamber sonatas surely stems from Debussy's similar scheme in 1915-1917.And if he was trying, like Debussy, to confirm his.
Piece Information:
Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano was composed in 1956 or 1957 and dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, commissioned by the Coolidge Foundation. Jean-Pierre Rampal and Poulenc at the piano gave the premiere of the work at the Strausberg Festival in 1957. From Poulenc’s autobiography, here is a moment he recalls from the working on the Sonata for Flute and Piano: “Jean-Pierre,” said Poulenc: “you know you’ve always wanted me to write a sonata for flute and piano? Well, I’m going to,” he said. “And the best thing is that the Americans will pay for it! I’ve been commissioned by the Coolidge Foundation to write a chamber piece in memory of Elizabeth Coolidge. I never knew her, so I think the piece is yours.” Although this piece is titled Sonata, the work does not include a single movement in sonata form. The work is not balanced with the same level of difficulty in the flute and piano parts. The flute is clearly the solo instrument with the pianist primarily given an accompanying responsibility.
Francis Poulenc wrote his Sonate pour flûte et piano in 1957 in response to a commission from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation at the U.S. Library of Congress. The work is dedicated to the memory of Coolidge, one of the twentieth century’s greatest champions of chamber music.
Francis Poulenc Sonata For Flute And Piano Sheet Music
A sense of restless melancholy pervades the first movement (Allegretto malincolico) of Poulenc’s Sonata. It opens with an expansive melody filled with delightfully unexpected twists and turns. Often, this music seems to glance back at the elegant lines of baroque and classical music. At the same time, it pays homage to a distinctly French clarity. While working on the Sonata, Pouenc wrote in a letter to his friend, Pierre Bernac,
In working on this Flute Sonata I have the feeling of going back a long way, but with a more settled technique. It’s a sonata of Debussyan dimensions. It’s the French sense of balance [la mesure française]. Finding the form for your language is the most difficult thing. It’s what Webern has in the highest degree … and what Boulez has not yet found.
The second movement (Cantilena) is serene and songlike. It has been described as “‘a great rainbow of melody.” The final movement (Presto giocoso) is an exuberant romp filled with witty neoclassical caricatures. Listen for the moment when all of the frolicking forward motion halts in a brief pause, followed by a plaintive remembrance of a theme from the first movement.
Francis Poulenc Flute Sonata Description
Earlier this week the Frankfurt Radio Symphony released this performance, featuring their superstar principal flutist, Clara Andrada de la Calle with pianist Maria Ollikainen. The online concert was recorded on May 25. Following the Poulenc, we hear the episodic Ballade for Flute and Piano by the Swiss composer, Frank Martin (1890-1974).