Sonata for cello and piano no. 1 op. 66

World War One made a deep impression on Charles Koechlin. Too old to be called up, he suffered a “major personal crisis [which] forced [him] to break with his past life socially, intellectually and artistically and take a leap of faith during the period of revival that inevitably followed the end of the war” (Aude Caillet). The collapse of the industrial securities which had assured him a private income and the contestation of the estate left by his mother (who died in 1917) plunged the amateur composer into a much harsher social reality, which saw him forced to sell his music—something he had until then refused to do. Initially stymied by the events that were tearing Europe apart (and busy with his work as a Red Cross nurse in Paris), the composer intended in mid-1916 to prepare for the future and devise a new musical language which could give new impetus to French composition after the end of the hostilities. As a result, he strove to distance himself as much as possible from the “self-important desire for the sublime and the colossal” which he ascribed to German works. It was against this background that his first cello sonata was composed (in 1917). The first movement is pastoral in mood while the second—extremely demanding for the pianist—takes on the feel of a nocturne. The  last movement is probably the most innovative: opening like a Gregorian antiphon, it clearly heralds future compositions by Darius Milhaud. This influence was not overly apparent, however, since the work did not receive its premiere until 6 March 1924, seven years after its composition.