| Sonatine | |
|---|---|
| by Maurice Ravel | |
 The composer in 1907 | |
| Dedication | Ida and Cipa Godebski |
| Performed | 10 March 1906 |
| Movements | three |
| Scoring | piano |
Sonatine is a piano work written by Maurice Ravel. Although Ravel wrote in his autobiography that he wrote the sonatina after his piano suite Miroirs , it seems to have been written between 1903 and 1905. [1] He most likely referred to the dates he finished both of the works.
Ravel wrote the first movement of the Sonatine for a competition sponsored by the Weekly Critical Review magazine after being encouraged by a close friend who was a contributor to that publication. The competition requirement was the composition of the first movement of a piano sonatina no longer than 75 bars, [2] with the prize being 100 francs.
In 1941 the publication Music & Letters printed the article When Ravel Composed to Order by Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi. Calvocoressi discussed how he supposedly encouraged Ravel to write the piece in response to a competition posted in the Paris Weekly Critical Review. Peter Jost of G. Henle Publishers found the original article in the Review published in three March 1903 editions. The original manuscript that Ravel submitted had the text ‘par Verla’ written and struck out, replaced with ‘par Maurice Ravel’. Ravel submitted the piece under a pseudonym and chose an anagram of his name. [3]
The Sonatine was first performed fully in Lyon on March 10, 1906 by Paule de Lestang. [4] Shortly afterwards the piece received a Paris premiere, where it was played by Gabriel Grovlez. [5] The work was dedicated to Ida and Cipa Godebski; he later dedicated his Ma mère l'Oye suite to their children.
The piece is in three movements:
The leaping fifth melody of the first movement reappears in variations against different textures in the second and third movements. [6]
The first movement is a well-structured, even straightforward, sonata form (albeit utilizing Ravel’s Impressionistic harmonic colorings). Two themes emerge in the exposition—the first in tonic key of F-sharp minor, and the second in D major and B minor. Owing to its diminutive form, the following minuet exists without a trio. Shifting to the key of the dominant (here spelt as D-flat major), it unfolds as a slow waltz, elegant and restrained but nonetheless building through moments of passion and intensity. Lastly, the toccata finale is the most technically challenging of the Sonatine’s three movements. Inspired in part by the keyboard writing of Couperin and Rameau, the movement shifts restlessly between 3/4 and 5/4 time and abounds in energy, driving the work to a brilliant conclusion. [7]
Both the first and third movements begin in F♯ minor and end in F♯ major. The middle movement is in D♭ major.
Reception for Ravel's Sonatine has been mixed but generally favorable. Marcel Marnat wrote that Sonatine captivates from the very first measure in its depth, [1] adding that in its conciseness and radiance, it is one of Ravel's defining works.
Ravel was known to value the work and performed it frequently. Sonatine is easier than some of his other works, such as Gaspard de la nuit, and Ravel (who was anxious about his skills as a pianist) probably performed it because of this. He did not, however, perform the third movement, as it was technically challenging for him. [8]
Carlos Salzedo transcribed Sonatine for flute, harp and cello (or viola), titling the transcription Sonatine en Trio, an instrumentation that echoes the second sonata of Six sonatas for various instruments by Claude Debussy. Various other arrangements for solo instruments with piano accompaniment exist as well.
| Stage |
|
|---|---|
| Orchestral | |
| Concertante | |
| Chamber | |
| Solo piano | |
| Vocal | |
| Related | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
Sonata, in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century, it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure.
A sonatina is a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementary, than a typical sonata. The term has been in use at least since the late baroque; there is a one-page, one-movement harpsichord piece by Handel called "Sonatina". It is most often applied to solo keyboard works, but a number of composers have written sonatinas for violin and piano, for example the Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano by Antonín Dvořák, and occasionally for other instruments, for example the Clarinet Sonatina by Malcolm Arnold.
Le Tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer who had died fighting in World War I. Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work in 1919, although this omitted two of the original movements.
The Sonatine bureaucratique is a 1917 piano composition by Erik Satie. The final entry in his humoristic piano music of the 1910s, it is Satie's only full-scale parody of a single musical work: the Sonatina Op. 36 N° 1 (1797) by Muzio Clementi. In performance it lasts around 4 minutes.
Miroirs is a five-movement suite for solo piano written by French composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French avant-garde artist group Les Apaches.
Ma mère l'Oye is a suite by French composer Maurice Ravel. The piece was originally written as a five-movement piano duet in 1910. In 1911, Ravel orchestrated the work.
Rapsodie espagnole is an orchestral rhapsody written by Maurice Ravel. Composed between 1907 and 1908, the Rapsodie is one of Ravel's first major works for orchestra. It was first performed in Paris in 1908 and quickly entered the international repertoire. The piece draws on the composer's Spanish heritage and is one of several of his works set in or reflecting Spain.
Menuet antique is a piece for solo piano composed by Maurice Ravel. The original piano version was written in 1895 and orchestrated by the composer in 1929. Ravel wrote the piece to pay tribute to Emmanuel Chabrier, who had welcomed his early works and helped to establish his musical reputation.
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major.
G-sharp minor is a minor scale based on G♯, consisting of the pitches G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E, and F♯. Its key signature has five sharps.
Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio for piano, violin, and cello is a chamber work composed in 1914. Dedicated to Ravel's counterpoint teacher André Gedalge, the trio was first performed in Paris in January 1915, by Alfredo Casella (piano), Gabriel Willaume (violin), and Louis Feuillard (cello). A typical performance of the work lasts about 30 minutes.
Great Pianists of the 20th Century – Martha Argerich is the second volume of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century box set and is the first of two volumes dedicated to her. The album features music by the composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Maurice Ravel. The works were recorded between 1967 and 1982.
Contrasts is a 1938 composition scored for clarinet–violin–piano trio by Béla Bartók (1881–1945). It is based on Hungarian and Romanian dance melodies and has three movements with a combined duration of 17–20 minutes. Bartók wrote the work in response to a letter from violinist Joseph Szigeti, although it was officially commissioned by clarinetist Benny Goodman.
Pièces pittoresques are a set of ten pieces for piano by Emmanuel Chabrier. Four of the set were later orchestrated by the composer to make his Suite pastorale.
Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn is a minuet for solo piano written by Maurice Ravel in 1909 to mark the centenary of Joseph Haydn's death.
Sonatas, duos and fantasies by Franz Schubert include all works for solo piano by Franz Schubert, except separate dances. They also include a number of works for two players: piano four hands, or piano and a string instrument.
The Premier Menuet is a Neoclassical piano piece by Erik Satie. Written in June 1920, it was his last composition for solo piano. It was published by Les Éditions de La Sirène in 1921.
The Symphony for Solo Piano is a large-scale romantic work for piano composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan and published in 1857.
The Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13, was written by Gabriel Fauré from 1875 to 1876. It is considered one of the three masterpieces of his youth, along with the first piano quartet and the Ballade in F♯ major.
The Septet in E♭ major, Op. 65, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns between 1879 and 1880 for the unusual combination of trumpet, two violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano. Like the suites Opp. 16, 49, 90, the septet is a neoclassical work that revives 17th-century French dance forms, reflecting Saint-Saëns's interest in the largely forgotten French musical traditions of the 17th century.
