The ''Sonate pour hautbois et piano de Poulenc'' (Oboe Sonata) FP 185, for

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

dates from 1962. It is dedicated to the memory of

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

. According to many, the last movement, "Déploration," is the last piece Poulenc wrote before he died. It sits as a kind of obituary.

Music

The Oboe Sonata is very difficult in places, especially the Scherzo. The sorrowful Déploration also requires great skill. To express his mourning for his friend Prokofiev, Poulenc uses the extremes of the oboe. For example, in one passage the player must play a phrase at the bottom of the oboe's range including B flat, the oboe's lowest note, very loudly (fortissimo). The same phrase is then repeated but is marked to be played very quietly (pianissimo). Another obvious example of Poulenc's use of extreme scoring in the first movement is the starting theme which is very high and the player must be skilled to control the notes and keep them in tune. The piece is in three movements: #''Elégie (Paisiblement, Sans Presser)'' #''Scherzo (Très animé)'' #''Déploration (Très calme)'' The movements are in the order slow-fast-slow as opposed to the fast-slow-fast of the traditional

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

. A typical performance will last between 13 and 15 minutes. The sonata is the last of Poulenc's three sonatas for

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

s and piano, the others being the Flute Sonata (1956) and the

Clarinet Sonata A clarinet sonata is piece of music in sonata form for clarinet, often with piano accompaniment. The Clarinet Sonatas by Brahms are of special significance in the development of the clarinet repertoire. Several important transcriptions are also p ...

(1962). Just after World War I he wrote a few other wind sonatas as well, for example a

Sonata for two clarinets The Sonata for two clarinets (''Sonate pour deux clarinettes''), FP 7, is a piece of chamber music composed by Francis Poulenc in 1918. Dedicated to Édouard Souberbielle, its total execution time is about six minutes. It is unusual among clarine ...

(FP 7a, 1918, revised 1945), a

sonata for clarinet and 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. Composition This sonata is the third work of chamber music of the composer after the sonata for ...

(FP 32a. 1922, revised 1945), and a

Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone The ''Sonate pour cor, trompette et trombone'' (Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone), FP (Poulenc), FP 33a, by Francis Poulenc is a piece of chamber music composed in 1922 and dedicated to Raymonde Linossier (1897–1930). Poulenc revised it in 1 ...

(FP 33a, 1922, revised 1945). Poulenc's wind sonatas share similar thematic material. For example, motifs in the final movement of the

can be heard in the Scherzo of the Oboe Sonata. Similarly, the Second Movement of the

opens with a motif that can be seen as an inversion of the opening of the Elégie of the Oboe Sonata.

References

Bibliography

External links

* Compositions by Francis Poulenc P P 1962 compositions {{Sonata-stub