Clarinet Sonata (Poulenc)

The resulting 1962 Sonata for clarinet and piano is one of the last works of the French composer Francis Poulenc. It is dedicated to Arthur Honegger.

The composition consists of three movements:

The sonata was first performed by the composer's death, namely on April 10, 1963 by Benny Goodman and Leonard Bernstein at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The Sonata is the second last of Poulenc's three sonatas for woodwind instruments; the Sonata for Flute and Piano (1956) and the Sonata for Oboe and Piano ( 1962).

Analysis

The first movement opens with an atonal introduction, in the one-sixteenth motif is repeated with new tones. This is followed by the main theme. While it is at the same quick pace, but mainly includes district, thereby acting much quieter and vocal. It starts in C major, swings through many keys, and eventually goes back into the atonal introduction, which now forms the transition to the slow middle part. This is in contrast to the rest of the sentence ( four-four time ) in three-quarter time, and is also characterized by a rhythmic motif: a dotted eighth and two sixty-fourth. The whole middle section revolves around the tonal center A Minor. Finally, the main theme reappears. Again in C major starting, a mysterious B Minor is a little later reached in which the movement ends with a tremolo of the clarinet.

The slow, completely standing in three-quarter time second movement is mainly characterized by a lyrical theme that is repeatedly modified and further developed. He is in G minor.

The conclusion is - in sharp contrast to the middle movement - a fast, extremely happy finale, which begins in C major and ends, but in between stays at all possible keys. The movement is essentially in four-four time, again and again, however, two- and three-quarter cycles are inserted. In some places the sixteenth motive from the beginning of the first movement reappears.

• Sonata
• Clarinet
• Work of Francis Poulenc