), or his sixth sonata, in which the composer intended to synthesize the previous five. Debussy affirmed his aims in a letter to Stravinsky which, in 1915, evinces his nationalist and anti-Wagnerian sentiments: “I’ve been writing nothing but pure music: twelve etudes for piano, and two Sonatas for diverse instruments, in our old form, which graciously did not impose Ring-Cycle efforts upon the auditory faculty.” Debussy died having only completed half of the six sonatas, depriving listeners of the chance to hear his planned fourth sonata for oboe, horn, and harpsichord (! The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the elements of … Café Music was commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) and received its premiere during a SPCO chamber concert in January 1987. For details on how we use cookies, see our. A verse from Goethe’s original poem is printed below. Built to work seamlessly with our drag & drop Builder plugin, it gives you the ability to customize the look and feel of your content. Please select a donation amount. What is intended by the words “In Memoriam”, marked by the composer beneath the work’s third theme, which is a quotation from the funeral march of Beethoven’s, Symphony? In this spirit, composers turned to a variety of sources in search of musical materials that represented some notion of “French” identity: folk music from the French regions; the music of Ancient Greece, believed to be the ancestral fount of French civilisation; and, as in the case of this sonata by Debussy, the French Baroque traditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Visita nuestra página web en español. was commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) and received its premiere during a SPCO chamber concert in January 1987. was written at a time when much of the German nation was coping with the trauma afflicted upon many of its people by the Nazis and upon its territory by years of warfare. To set the tone for it all is the bucolic pastorale which opens Debussy’s late Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp, one of a set of sonatas Debussy was composing at the time of his death. For example, early 20th century American, Viennese, light classical, gypsy, and Broadway styles are all represented. Debussy wrote in the manuscript of his violin sonata that the fourth sonata should be written for oboe, horn, and harpsichord, and the fifth for trumpet, clarinet, bassoon and piano. Strauss published Metamorphosen for twenty-three strings, to fulfill a commission extended to him by Paul Sacher. $ for twenty-three strings, to fulfill a commission extended to him by Paul Sacher. Phone: 207-373-1441, Development: development@bowdoinfestival.org Your belief in the power of music to heal and transform makes our work possible. Tonight’s concert spans a vast emotional range, from the protean levity of Schoenfield’s Café Music to Strauss’s intensely poignant Metamorphosen. However, a more likely source of inspiration for Strauss was the poem, Niemand wird sich selber kennen (No one will know himself). CLAUDE DEBUSSY. Strauss’s late and introspective Metamorphosen was written at a time when much of the German nation was coping with the trauma afflicted upon many of its people by the Nazis and upon its territory by years of warfare. Scholars’ attempts to answer these questions have largely been inconclusive; a long-prevailing notion that. Debussy in fact projected six such sonatas, composed for combinations of instruments, modeled not on the increasingly dense and protean sonata form in the wake of Beethoven, but rather on the sonatas of Couperin and Rameau, prized by the composer and his compatriots for their concision and elegance. It was written in 1915 as part of a planned set of six sonatas for various instrumental combinations; Debussy’s final illness and death in 1918 prevented the completion of the project. Brunswick, ME 04011-8463, Admissions: grace@bowdoinfestival.org Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp (1915) Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp dates from the last years of Debussy’s life. Of the three late sonatas, the first, for flute, viola, and harp, stands out as the most Debussian. {{text}} Work Title Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp Alt ernative. | Designed by Eri Design, Debussy affirmed his aims in a letter to Stravinsky which, in 1915, evinces his nationalist and anti-Wagnerian sentiments: “I’ve been writing nothing but pure music: twelve etudes for piano, and two Sonatas for diverse instruments, in our old form, which graciously did not impose. However, a more likely source of inspiration for Strauss was the poem, (No one will know himself). It was an especially painful period for Strauss, who was suffering from the deterioration of his health in old age. Although Debussy used the familiar term “sonata” to describe the present work, there is very little that is traditional about either its combination of instruments or the formal structure of the work itself. . No one can really know himself, detach himself from his inner being; yet he must daily put to the test whenever he can clearly see from without—what he is and what he has, what he can do and what he cares for. Doch probier er jeden Tag, The Sonata for flute, viola, and harp (French: Sonate pour flûte, alto, et harpe), L. 137, was written by the French composer Achille-Claude Debussy (22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) in 1915. Given the musical intensity of, , it is tempting to search for meaning in this work: might the work, for example, help elucidate Strauss’s beleaguered relationship to Nazi Germany, between his frequent complicity with the regime and his private antipathy toward its politics? A second section is more spry, with dotted rhythms and tremolos in the viola, and a quickening of tempo. first came to me in 1985 after sitting in one night for the pianist at Murray’s Restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota. efforts upon the auditory faculty.” Debussy died having only completed half of the six sonatas, depriving listeners of the chance to hear his planned fourth sonata for oboe, horn, and harpsichord (! Here it is played by the “Formosa Trio”, Pei-San Chiu (flute), Tze-Ying Wu (viola) and Joy Yeh (harp). Similarly, the second movement, marked Tempo di menuetto, is a minuet in tempo only, its vaguely dance-like character manipulating material heard in the earlier movement. In response both to political events (notably France’s embarrassing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71) and musical circumstances (put simply, Wagner), French composers sought urgently to reaffirm a sense of “French” musical identity. Its opening harp arpeggio is joined by flute acrobatics; viola sneaks in in unison with the flute and introduces a disjointed, dreamy, watery theme.