Piano Sonata

The creation of this piano sonata came at the time of a split between two trends in the Parisian musical avant-garde. Faced with a Société nationale de musique that was seen as being too much under the control of Vincent d’Indy and reserved exclusively for disciples of the Schola Cantorum, a fringe of the younger generation, led by Maurice Ravel, established a new arena for musical expression: the Société musicale indépendante. The presence, on the programme of a concert given by the Société nationale on 9 April 1910, of a work by Charlotte Sohy, one of d'Indy’s pupils fresh from the Schola Cantorum, was thus seen both as a continuation of a decried programming policy and as the sign of a generational renewal (the composers who had resigned were replaced by young artists). Given little coverage in the Parisian press, the concert nevertheless caught the attention of Charles Cornet, a correspondent of the Brussels weekly Guide musical (17 April 1910): “The piano sonata by M[onsieur] Ch. Sohy has the great merit of being short and to the point; the author knows what he wants to say and how to say it and has no intention of saying too much. He is to be encouraged in that approach, and it cannot be denied that the first two movements offer some personal qualities as well as some delightful sounds, and the third one, in the form of a rondo based on a Russian dance theme, moves fervently and with ease through many varied tonalities. It was played by Mlle Veluard, one of M. d’Indy’s young students, full of promise and very pretty.” We note that at the same concert Marcel Labey presented some of his mélodies, sung by Jane Bathori.