Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

's Piano Sonata (1947–1948) was his only

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...

. It is dedicated to and premiered by his wife

Geneviève Joy Geneviève Joy (; 4 October 1919 – 27 November 2009) was a French classical and modernist pianist who, at the end of World War II in 1945, formed a critically acclaimed duo-piano partnership with Jacqueline Robin which lasted for forty-five yea ...

on 30 April 1948.Fantapié, Henri-Claude (2014), ''Henri Dutilleux Edition'', -CD Set (

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

), liner notes. The Piano Sonata has since become one of the most acclaimed post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

works in the genre"'' Alternating Currents'' – About"
Tall Poppies TP212 (2010), via Presto Music, "... the Dutilleux Sonata is one of the best piano works from the 20th century..." and has been championed by major pianists such as

John Ogdon John Andrew Howard Ogdon (27 January 1937 – 1 August 1989) was an English pianist and composer. Biography Career Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and attended the Manchester Grammar School, before studying at the Ro ...

, Robert Levin, John Chen and

Claire-Marie Le Guay Claire-Marie Le Guay (born 13 June 1974) is a French classical pianist. Early life Le Guay was born in Paris, France. She began playing piano at age 4 and entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 14, where she studied with Jacques Rouvier, Pasca ...

. Although Dutilleux had been active as a composer for ten years when he wrote his piano sonata, he viewed it as his Opus 1, the first work that he considered up to his mature standards.Review
by Gary Higginson, musicweb-international.com, 10 October 2010

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

, Bartók and

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 ...

Musicweb-international.com, Tony Haywood CD review
/ref> have been cited as influences on the piece although critics have also stressed that its language is original and distinctive,Whitehouse, Richard
''Henri Dutilleux – Complete Solo Piano Music''

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...

, liner notes. a personal synthesis of French

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and

Soviet music The music of the Soviet Union varied in many genres and epochs. The majority of it was considered to be part of the Russian culture, but other national cultures from the Republics of the Soviet Union made significant contributions as well. The So ...

. Levin, Robert
''Henri Dutilleux: D'ombre et de silence''

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

, liner notes.

Music

The work has three

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

s. The piano sonata represented an opportunity for Dutilleux to experiment with an ambitious, large-scale project, something that his previous commissioned works did not permit. In his own words: "I wanted to move gradually towards working in larger forms, and not to be satisfied with short pieces – to get away, if you like, from a way of writing that was 'typically French' ". The piece combines two concerns typical of Dutilleux's mature works: formal rigour and harmonic research. Its themes are ambiguous, never completely modal or tonal.''The Solo Piano Works of Henri Dutilleux: A Stylistics Analysis'', Rosemarie Suniga, University of South Carolina, 2011

/ref> The first movement, Allegro con moto, starts in 2/2 time, but often changes

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

. It is bi-thematic and classical in structure, with an ample first

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

while the second one derives from the former. From the very first bars, it displays F major-minor ambiguity.

Tritones Tritones may refer to: * Tritones (mythology) ** Triton (mythology) ** Daimones of the sea, see daemon (classical mythology) See also * Tritone (disambiguation) * Tritons, several * Triton (disambiguation) * Tritonia (disambiguation) Tritonia ...

are also featured prominently, as well as extremes of register which give the piece a symphonic character. The Lied is the shortest movement. In

ternary Ternary (from Latin ''ternarius'') or trinary is an adjective meaning "composed of three items". It can refer to: Mathematics and logic * Ternary numeral system, a base-3 counting system ** Balanced ternary, a positional numeral system, useful ...

A–B–A form, it is also sparser and more pensive than the other two. Its basic tonality is

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

although some degree of modal-tonal ambiguity is again noticeable. It begins in with some meter changes later on. The last movement starts with an imposing Choral in that suggests a four-voice

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

. It is characterized by

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

-like sonorities that are created by the overlapping of low and high sustained notes. It is followed by 4

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

(Vivace – Un poco più vivo – Calmo – Prestissimo). Variation II features an early example of "fan-shaped phrases", a device Dutilleux would use frequently in his later works. The movement concludes with a varied recapitulation of the Choral. The variations are thus structured in a mini-

sonata form Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle ...

, creating a "sonata within a sonata". Throughout the movement, several passages have a

toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuo ...

-like character. The work has been described as "a brilliant, multi-layered piece with echoes of Bartók and

" as well as a "sonata that

might have written... sensuous and classical".

Selected discography

* 1995 – Marie-Josèphe Jude (CD – Harmonia Mundi #911569) * 2000 –

(CD – Accord #465772) * 2000 –

Anne Queffélec Anne Queffélec (born 17 January 1948) is a French classical pianist, born in Paris. Biography Anne Queffélec is the daughter of Henri Queffélec and sister of Yann Queffélec, both noted writers. Her brother Hervé Queffélec is a mathema ...

(CD – Virgin #45222) * 2007 – John Chen (CD – Naxos #8557823) * 2010 – Robert Levin (CD – ECM #2105) * 2012 –

, recorded in 1972 (CD – Warner Classics #4637) * 2013 –

, recorded in 1988 (CD – Erato #42755) * 2015 –

Kathryn Stott Kathryn Stott (born 10 December 1958)

(CD – BIS #2148) * 2020 – Élodie Vignon (CD – Cypres #4658)

References

{{Authority control

Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

1948 compositions Compositions by Henri Dutilleux Music dedicated to family or friends Music dedicated to ensembles or performers