francis poulenc (1899 - 1963)

Violin Sonata (1943)

Several of Poulenc's earlier attempts at writing violin sonatas and string quartets ended in the sewers of Paris, and the only string music of this nature which finally passed the composer's fastidious scrutiny were the Sonata for violin and piano, and the Sonata for cello and piano (1948). The violin sonata was the result of pressures from the young violinist Ginette Neveu to write a violin piece.

Written during the German occupation of France, this work was boldly dedicated to the memory of Federico García Lorca - a Spanish poet murdered by fascist troops because of his liberal opinions and homosexuality. Poulenc had set three Lorca poems as songs in 1937. The violin sonata was intended as a personal statement on the poet's senseless death. The middle movement was meant to be "vaguely Spanish" - evoking the distant guitars and Moorish cantilena of Lorca's Spain. The concluding Presto tragico is as violent and brusque as Lorca's death.

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