Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...

 completed his Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 143, in 1948. He first sketched it in 1940. It was dedicated to the French cellist Pierre Fournier

Pierre Fournier

Pierre Fournier was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists," on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound....

, who had helped with the technical aspects of the cello part, as the composer was unfamiliar with the instrument.

The sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

 is in four movements:

• I. Allegro - Tempo di Marcia
• II. Cavatine
  Cavatina
  Cavatina is a musical term, originally a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air...
  
  
• III. Ballabile
• IV. Finale

Each movement is in ternary form, having a contrasting middle section. The piece makes much use of Neo-Baroque and Neo-Classical

Neoclassicism (music)

Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...

styles.