Violin Sonata (Poulenc)

Sonate pour violon et piano Violin Sonata
Chamber music by Francis Poulenc
Bust of the poet Federico García Lorca, in whose memory the sonata was written
Catalogue	FP 119
Composed	1942 (1942)–1943
Performed	21 June 1943 (1943-06-21): Paris

The Sonate pour violon et piano (Violin Sonata), FP 119, by Francis Poulenc was composed in 1942–1943 in memory of the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. The score, dedicated to Poulenc's niece Brigitte Manceaux, was published by Max Eschig. The work was premiered by the violinist Ginette Neveu with the composer at the piano on 21 June 1943 in Paris, salle Gaveau.

Francis Poulenc tried several times to write a sonata for a string instrument. As early as 1918, he made sketches for a violin sonata, which he later destroyed. He made several further attempts between 1925 and 1935. The published violin sonata was at least the fourth approach, and the only one to have been preserved. As Poulenc himself pointed out, he did "not like the violin in the singular". The writing of the sonata was largely due to the insistence of Ginette Neveu whom he did not want to antagonize and who gave him many tips for the violin part. He later confessed that "the few delicious violinistic details of the score" were due to Neveu.

Poulenc wrote, when he completed the draft of the sonata:

The monster is finished. I will begin the realization. It is not bad, I think, and in any case very different from the eternal "violin-melody line" of the French sonatas of the 19th century.... The violin prima donna over piano arpeggio makes me vomit.

Le monstre est au point. Je vais commencer la réalisation. Ce n'est pas mal, je crois, et en tout cas fort différent de la sempiternelle ligne de violon-mélodie des sonates françaises du XIXe siècle.... Le violon prima donna sur piano arpège, me fait vomir.

The work was premiered during a concert de la Pléiade at salle Gaveau in Paris 21 June 1943 with Ginette Neveu, violin, and the composer as pianist; the violinist's performance was appreciated even if the criticisms of the work were negative. Poulenc revised the sonata in 1949.

In his work Journal de mes mélodies, the composer himself is critical of this sonata: "I am struggling to testify, musically, of my passion for Lorca, but my Sonata for piano and violin, dedicated to his memory, is alas not the best Poulenc".