The ''Sonate pour cor, trompette et trombone'' (Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone), 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 1945. Its total performance time is about eight minutes.

History

The sonata is the composer's second extant work of chamber music, 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 ...

. It was written between August and October 1922 at the same time as the

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 ...

, and was premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées 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 wi ...

. Poulenc revised the composition in 1945.

Reception and legacy

Since its inception, reception has been favourable, especially that of Charles Koechlin which Poulenc reports in one of his letters, specifying: "... a beaucoup aimé ses 'fourbis', qu'il a trouvé très bien écrits. C'est là l'essentiel." (... loved very much his 'mess' which he found very well written. That is essential.) Poulenc's 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 ...

finds that the two pieces written the same year "acid and tender, well written for wind instruments, have all the quality of the Sonata for two clarinets and the contemporary '' Trois mouvements perpétuels''".

Structure and style

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 horn, trumpet and trombone has three short movements: # ''Allegro moderato'' # ''Andante'' # ''Rondeau'' The character of the music resembles a fair music, conforming to the spirit of ''

Les Six "Les Six" () is a name given to a group of six composers, five of them French and one Swiss, who lived and worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's '' The Five'', originates in two 1920 articles by critic Henri Collet in ' ...

''. Kathy Henkel described the first movement as a series of dance episodes, the second as a

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowledg ...

derived from motifs of the first movement, and the third as a

rondo The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

with more light-hearted dance music. She summarizes the piece's "variety of tone colors, striking rhythms, delicious dissonances, and elegant wit".

Selected recording

* Ab Koster (

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

), Frédéric Mellardi (

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

), Nicolas Vallade (

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

) : ''Francis Poulenc – Intégrale Musique de chambre'' – RCA Red Seal * André Cazalet (

), Frédéric Mellardi (

), Guillaume Cottet-Dumoulin (

) : ''Francis Poulenc – Intégrale Musique de chambre avec vents'' – indésens!

References

Bibliography

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External links

Francis Poulenc – Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone (1924) (Score-Video)
on YouTube
Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone, FP 33a (Poulenc, Francis)
on IMSLP
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for horn trumpet and trombone / A structural analysis identifying significance, form and implications for performance
(Doctoral thesis) digital.library.unt.edu
Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone by Poulenc
on laphil.com
Francis Poulenc — Sonata for Horn, Trumpet, and Trombone
on Paul Thomason writer
Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone (1922) Francis Poulenc
on Trove {{Portal bar, Music, France Compositions by Francis Poulenc Classical music trios Sonatas 1918 compositions