Sonata for Violin and Cello (1922) MAURICE RAVEL Born March 7, 1875 Died December 28, 1937

Maurice Ravel wrote his Sonata for Violin and Cello in 1922, at nearly the same time that he made his celebrated orchestration of Mussorgsky’s original solo piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition. Though the forces in the Sonata are much smaller than those in Pictures, his orchestration using only two stringed instruments is no less striking and ingenious. The violin and cello alternately play the leading themes and accompany each other almost without pause. Dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy, the Sonata reflects the musical currents sweeping around Europe at the time, including the Hungarian folk-influenced music of Bartók and Kodály, represented by striking dissonances, wild pizzicati, and rhythmic verve. In four movements, the Sonata is one of Ravel’s most large-scale chamber works, rivaling his great String Quartet in scope, and makes the same virtuoso demands upon the performers.

String Quartet in g minor, op. 10 (1893) CLAUDE DEBUSSY Born August 22, 1862 Died March 25, 1918

Claude Debussy wrote only a single string quartet, early in his compositional career, in 1893. The piece came about in part due to a chance meeting of Debussy with the great Belgian violinist Eugene Ysaÿe. Debussy wrote the quartet for Ysaÿe’s eponymous ensemble, which gave the premiere in December, 1893. This was very early in Debussy’s career, more than a year before the composition of his ground-breaking Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, which catapulted Debussy to fame. The writing of the quartet could not be more different from the gauzy Impressionism of his succeeding works. The opening motif (which forms the basis for the rest of the quartet’s themes) is marked “animated and very resolute” and is some of his most forceful music. Many of Debussy’s colleagues were mystified and confused by this prominent foray into an archly classical form - the string quartet - among them Ernest Chausson. Early reviews were similarly uncomplimentary. Despite this, Debussy proved to be a strikingly original voice in one of the most celebrated and daunting musical genres: the string quartet.

Quintet for Piano and Strings in f minor CÉSAR FRANCK Born December 10, 1822 Died November 8, 1890

César Franck, often mistakenly thought to be a French composer, was actually born in Liège, Belgium, though he spent the majority of his life in and around Paris. He served as a cathedral organist at several prominent churches around Paris as well as teaching composition at the Paris Conservatory. Several of his students achieved fame as composers, including Ernest Chausson and Vincent D’Indy. The Piano Quintet, composed in 1879-1879, is one of his most highly regarded works, along with the Symphony in D minor, the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major, and the symphonic poem Le Chasseur maudit. As with several other great chamber works, there is a mysterious woman involved in the genesis of the Piano Quintet. Franck had a powerful infatuation with a particularly beautiful piano student of his, Augusta Holmes, and biographers have strongly asserted that the Piano Quintet is an expression of his feelings for her, however unrequited they may or may not have been. This is further confirmed by the antipathy that Franck’s wife publicly expressed towards the Quintet, saying “His organ pieces are everything that is admirable; but that quintet! Ugh!” She also refused to attend any performances which featured the work, lending further credence to its inspiration by another woman. Perhaps because of this strength of emotion, the quintet is an intense and dramatic work, full of wide contrasts of dynamics and passionate themes.