Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.
Robert Marcel Casadesus was a renowned 20th-century French pianist and composer. He was the most prominent member of a distinguished musical family, being the nephew of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus, husband of Gaby Casadesus, and father of Jean Casadesus.
F major is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B♭, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor.
E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F♯, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
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.
La valse, poème chorégraphique pour orchestre, is a work written by Maurice Ravel between February 1919 and 1920; it was first performed on 12 December 1920 in Paris. It was conceived as a ballet but is now more often heard as a concert work.
A Heart in Winter is a French film which was released in 1992. It stars Emmanuelle Béart, Daniel Auteuil and André Dussollier. It was chosen to compete at the 49th Venice International Film Festival, where it won four awards, tying for the Silver Lion. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1994 BAFTA awards.
Friedemann Kupsa is an Austrian Cellist.
Maurice Ravel completed his String Quartet in F major in early April 1903 at the age of 28. It was premiered in Paris in March the following year. The work follows a four-movement classical structure: the opening movement, in sonata form, presents two themes that occur again later in the work; a playful scherzo second movement is followed by a lyrical slow movement. The finale reintroduces themes from the earlier movements and ends the work vigorously.
Philippe Muller is a French cellist.
Violin Sonata, a composition for violin and piano, is a work of the Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854-1928). It was written in the summer of 1914, but it was not Janáček’s first attempt to create such a composition. He resolved to compose a violin sonata already as a student at the conservatoire in Leipzig in 1880, and later during his studies in Vienna. His early sonatas are today lost.
Andor Toth, Jr. (1948–2002) was an American cellist in the Central European, Berlin, and Hungarian traditions.
The Toth Duo was founded in 1972 by two members of the New Hungarian Quartet: Andor Toth, violin and Andor Toth Jr., cello. The Toth Duo recorded a significant album of Duos for Violin and Cello on the ECLECTRA label. The Duo actively performed until the death of Andor Toth Jr. in 2002.
René-Emmanuel Baton, known as Rhené-Baton, was a French conductor and composer. Though born in Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, his family originated in Vitré in neighbouring Brittany. He returned to the region at the age of 19, and many of his compositions express his love of the area. He also had close relationships with composers of the Breton cultural renaissance, notably Guy Ropartz, Paul Le Flem, Paul Ladmirault and Louis Aubert. As a conductor he was notable for his attempts to expand appreciation of classical music.
Francis Poulenc completed his Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, FP 143, in 1948. He first sketched it in 1940. It was dedicated to the French cellist Pierre Fournier, who had helped with the technical aspects of the cello part, as the composer was unfamiliar with the instrument. The work was published by Heugel in Paris.
Maurice Ravel composed his Violin Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano from 1923 to 1927. He was inspired by American music, namely jazz and blues.
Claude Debussy's Six sonatas for various instruments, composed by Claude Debussy, French musician was a projected cycle of sonatas that was interrupted by the composer's death in 1918, after he had composed only half of the projected sonatas. He left behind his sonatas for cello and piano (1915), flute, viola and harp (1915), and violin and piano (1916–1917).
Hélène Jourdan-Morhange was a French classical violinist.
The Violin Sonata No. 1 by Maurice Ravel, known also as Sonate posthume, is the composer's earliest instance of a sonata for this combination of instruments. While composed 30 years before the publication of his second violin sonata, it was published 38 years after his death.
