The ''Sonate pour clarinette et basson'' (Sonata for clarinet and bassoon), FP 32a, is a piece of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

composed by

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 ...

in 1922.

Composition

This sonata is the third work of chamber music of the composer after the

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 ...

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 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 33). The work was dedicated "to Madame Audrey Parr". The composer revised the work in 1945.

Structure

Its total execution time is approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Like most of the composer's chamber music pieces, with the exception of the

Cello Sonata A cello sonata is usually a sonata written for solo cello with piano accompaniment. The most famous Romantic-era cello sonatas are those written by Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven. Some of the earliest cello sonatas were written in the 1 ...

, the sonata for clarinet and bassoon has three short movements: # ''Allegro'' # ''Romance'' # ''Final'' This sonata is close in clarity and precision to that for two clarinets composed four years earlier.

Reception and legacy

The sonata was premiered by the clarinettist

Louis Cahuzac Louis (Jean Baptiste) Cahuzac (12 July 1880 – 9 August 1960) was a French people, French clarinetist and composer. Cahuzac was an outstanding performer and one of the few clarinetists who made a career as a soloist in the first part of the ...

at the

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

in Paris on 4 January 1923 at a Satie-Poulenc concert organized by

Jean Wiener Jean Wiener (or Wiéner) (19 March 1896, 14th arrondissement of Paris – 8 June 1982, Paris) was a French pianist and composer. Life Wiener was trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied alongside Darius Milhaud, and worked with ...

.According to the cover of the record ''Francis Poulenc - Intégrale Musique de chambre'' - RCA Red Seal, From its creation, critiques were positive, especially those of

Charles Koechlin Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin (; 27 November 186731 December 1950), commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things ...

, which Poulenc reports in one of his letters. He specifies that his master very much liked his "stuffs, which he found very well written. That is essential." Biographer

Henri Hell Henri Hell, pseudonym for José Enrique Lasry (1916 – April 1991) was a French art, music and literary critic, as well as a musicologist. Biography As a literary critic, Henri Hell collaborated with ', '' Combat'', ''la Table Ronde'', '' l'Expr ...

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

, contemporary of the

Trois mouvements perpétuels ''Trois'' is a 2000 erotic thriller film directed by Rob Hardy and produced by William Packer. It stars Gary Dourdan, Kenya Moore and Gretchen Palmer. The film was given a limited theatrical release and was one of the years highest grossing ...

Discography

* Karl Laystera and

Milan Turković Milan Turković may refer to: * Milan Turković (businessperson) (1857–1937), Croatian businessman and nobleman * Milan Turković (musician) (born 1939), Austrian-Croatian classical bassoonist and conductor {{hndis, Turković, Milan ...

(bassoon) * Paul Meyer (clarinet) and Gilbert Audin (bassoon): ''Francis Poulenc - Intégrale Musique de chambre'' - RCA Red Seal

References

Footnotes Bibliography * * *

External links

*
Sonata for clarinet and bassoon
on YouTube *
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) Complete Chamber Music, Volume 3
on

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

Sonata for clarinet and bassoon, 1st mvmt
on Archive.org {{Portal bar, Music, France Compositions by Francis Poulenc P P 1922 compositions