Quality: 10

Difficulty: Solo-7.5, Accompaniment-7.5

13:13

Highest Note: alt. G^#

Youngest of "The Six" (Neoclassical French composers grouped together by a critic because their work appeared on the same program; united by friendship more than musical style, although they were reacting against Impressionism; also included Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honeggar, Darius Milhaud, and Germaine Tailleferre)

Died of a heart attack only one year after he wrote the clarinet sonata; he only wrote one work after it (oboe sonata)

Called "The 20th Century Schubert" because of his melodies

Also wrote a sonata for two clarinets (1918), sonata for clarinet and bassoon (1922), sextet for woodwind quintet and piano (1932-39), and woodwind quintet

Commissioned by Benny Goodman and written in memory of Arthur Honeggar

First published posthumously and premiered at a memorial concert for Poulenc

Wit and irony; pitted the profane (from his mother's artistic lineage) against the religious (from his father's Catholic heritage)-see the opening of movement II

I and III: ternary

Style is typical of "The Six" (reaction against Impressionism): complex rhythms,  lyrical lines, "hesitations," jazz and folk influences; its forms are Neoclassical

Quick mood changes

Fast fingers

Light articulation

Air support over leaps and runs

Listen to his flute & oboe sonatas

I: be precise with the dotted eighth-sixteenth rhythm (don't make them into triplets); in the B section, subdivide carefully for accurate finger rhythm

II: count in eighth notes for precise rhythms

III: can be faster than 144, but be sure to start SLOWLY!

Observe breaths (Poulenc added them, not an editor or publisher)

Jonathan Cohler/Randall Hodgkinson; More Cohler on Clarinet; Ongaku

Stanley Drucker/Kazuko Hayami; Cala

Karl Leister/Ferenc Bognar; Par Excellence: French Music for Clarinet; Camerata

Paul Meyer/Eric Le Sage; French Clarinet Art; Denon