Sonata in F major

Pastorale

Interlude

Finale

Debussy said of the Sonata for flute, viola and harp that he didn’t know whether it should make one “laugh or cry – perhaps both.” It is not an unhappy work and yet it is, as he remarked, “frightfully sad” at times. Even so – in spite of the ambiguity of the harmonies at the beginning, the elusive flexibility of the rhythms, and the lingering blends of autumnal instrumental colour – the ternary shape of the first movement is precisely defined.

Just as the Musicien Français avoids sonata form in the Pastorale, he avoids classical precedent in the Interlude, alluding    instead to the slow baroque minuet. Although he twice he accelerates the tempo here, in anticipation of the cheerfully animated middle section, he cannot escape a particularly melancholy recall of the minuet material at the end. It is not until the Finale, with its ostinato rhythms and peculiarly exotic modal harmonies, that he is able to sustain the joy which has been such a sporadic feature of the work so far. A brief echo of the Pastorale just before the end does little to halt the momentum.

Pastorale

Interlude

Finale

Debussy was never to be as happy again, or as creative, as he was in the summer and autumn of 1915, when he was staying at Pourville near Dieppe on the Normandy coast. It was there that, as well as the twelve Etudes for piano, he wrote the Cello Sonata and - towards the end of his stay, when he was dreading the prospect of returning to war-time Paris - the Sonata for flute, viola and harp. Modelled on the pre-classical French sonata, they were the first in a projected series of six such works which, sadly, progressed no further than the Violin Sonata completed just a year before his death.

Debussy said of the Sonata for flute, viola and harp that he didn’t know whether it should make one “laugh or cry - perhaps both.” It is not an unhappy work and yet it is, as he remarked, “frightfully sad” at times, as though tinged with regret for the garden and sea view he was so reluctant to leave at Pourville. Even so - in spite of the ambiguity of the harmonies at the beginning, the elusive flexibility of the rhythms, and the lingering blends of autumnal instrumental colour - the ternary shape of the first movement is precisely defined. The quicker middle section is based on a clearly contrasting rhythmically impulsive theme introduced by viola and repeated by flute and harp in turn before a varied and still more nostalgic recall of the opening section.

Just as the Musicien Français avoids sonata form in the Pastorale, he avoids classical precedent in the Interlude, alluding instead to the slow baroque minuet. Although he twice he accelerates the tempo here, in anticipation of the cheerfully animated trio section, he cannot escape a particularly melancholy recall of the minuet material at the end. It is not until the Finale, with its ostinato rhythms and peculiarly exotic modal harmonies, that he is able to sustain the joy which has been such a sporadic feature of the work so far. A brief echo of the Pastorale just before the end does little to halt the momentum.

Pastorale

Interlude

Finale

Debussy was never to be as happy again, or as creative, as he was in the summer and autumn of 1915, when he was staying at Pourville near Dieppe on the Normandy coast. It was there that he wrote the Cello Sonata, the twelve Etudes for piano and - towards the end of his stay, when he was dreading the prospect of returning to war-time Paris - the Sonata for flute, viola and harp.

The two chamber works were the first in a projected series of six such

works to be modelled on the pre-classical French sonata - an idea both neo-baroque in conception and self-consciously patriotic, as he clearly demonstrated by having a title page specially designed in a pastiche eighteenth century manner: Six Sonates pour divers instruments composées par Claude Debussy, Musicien Français. In fact, he had time to complete only three of them: the Violin Sonata, his last work, was written just a year before his death.

Debussy said of the Sonata for flute, viola and harp that he didn’t know whether it should make one “laugh or cry - perhaps both.” It is not an unhappy work and yet it is, as he remarked, “frightfully sad” at times, as though tinged with regret for the garden and sea view he was so reluctant to leave at Pourville. Even so - in spite of the ambiguity of the harmonies at the beginning, the elusive flexibility of the rhythms, and the lingering blends of autumnal instrumental colour - the ternary shape of the first movement is precisely defined. The quicker middle section is based on a clearly contrasting rhythmically impulsive theme introduced by viola and repeated by flute and harp in turn before a varied and still more nostalgic recall of the opening section.

Just as the Musicien Français avoids sonata form in the Pastorale, he avoids classical precedent in the Interlude, alluding instead to the slow baroque minuet. Although he twice he accelerates the tempo here, in anticipation of the cheerfully animated middle section, he cannot escape a particularly melancholy recall of the minuet material at the end. It is not until the Finale, with its ostinato rhythms and peculiarly exotic modal harmonies, that he is able to sustain the joy which has been such a sporadic feature of the work so far. A brief echo of the Pastorale just before the end does little to halt the momentum.