The first performance in France was a private one that occurred on 10 December 1916, at the home of Debussy's publisher, Jacques Durand. The performers were members of a wind ensemble called the Longy Club, which had been founded by the principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, George Longy. The first performance of the Sonata took place in Boston, at Jordan Hall in the New England Conservatory, on 7 November 1916. The sonata for flute, viola, and harp, L. Whether descriptive comments related to characters of the Commedia dell'arte were actually given by Debussy to cellist Louis Rosoor remains unclear. The piece is considered technically demanding. It also uses many types of extended cello technique, including left-hand pizzicato, spiccato and flautando bowing, false harmonics and portamenti. The piece makes use of modes and whole-tone and pentatonic scales, as is typical of Debussy's style. Instead of sonata form, Debussy structures the piece in the style of the eighteenth-century monothematic sonata, and was particularly influenced by the music of François Couperin. The final two movements are joined by an attacca. Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto.His death on 25 March 1918 prevented him from carrying out his plan, and only three of the six sonatas were completed and published by Durand, with a dedication to his second wife, Emma Bardac. In a letter to the conductor Bernard Molinari, Debussy explained that the set should include "different combinations, with the last sonata combining the previously used instruments". And that is how the idea of the six sonatas for various instruments came about. He admitted the fact to me and I warmly encouraged him to follow his inclination. Then, at the Concerts Durand, he heard again the Septet with trumpet by Saint-Saëns and his sympathy for this means of musical expression was reawoken. The effects of the First World War and an interest in baroque composers Couperin and Rameau inspired Debussy as he was writing the sonatas.ĭurand, in his memoirs entitled Quelques souvenirs d'un éditeur de musique, wrote the following about the sonatas' origin:Īfter his famous String Quartet, Debussy had not written any more chamber music. He left behind his sonatas for cello and piano (1915), flute, viola and harp (1915), and violin and piano (1916–1917).įrom 1914, the composer, encouraged by the music publisher Jacques Durand, intended to write a set of six sonatas for various instruments, in homage to the French composers of the 18th century. Claude Debussy's Six sonatas for various instruments (French: Six sonates pour divers instruments) was a projected cycle of sonatas that was interrupted by the composer's death in 1918, after he had composed only half of the projected sonatas.
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