Violin Sonata No. 2 (Ravel)

Maurice Ravel's violin sonata for piano and violin is a sonata composed from 1923–1927. Ravel was inspired by the music of America, namely jazz and blues.[1]

When the composer was living in Montfort-l'Amaury, France, he accompanied Helen Jourdan-Morhange and they shared a love for jazz. The classic blues band of W.C. Handy exhibited the style of St. Louis blues in Paris from 1923 to 1927. Ravel was inspired by the style of music and dance.[2] Jazz elements can also be found in Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, etc.

Composition

Ravel applied the technical and melodic forms of blues. The sonata is stylistically very different from Ravel's earlier works. The music utilizes bitonality, the horizontal management of voices that Erik Satie loved and harmonies of gnashing hardness, which Igor Stravinsky begin to personify. Satie and Stravinsky may have influenced the opening of the new creative period where the blues of Ravel's sonata marked a high point.[3]

Movements

The violin sonata consists of three movements:

References

  1. ↑ Kelly L, Barbara. Maurice Ravel: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd edition Volume 20. New York: Macmillan Publishers, 2001 p. 868
  2. ↑ Stuckenschmidt, H.H. Maurice Ravel: Variation on His Life and Work. Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1968, p. 192
  3. ↑ Stuckenschmidt, H.H. Maurice Ravel: Variation on His Life and Work. Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1968, p. 193