Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UCLA

UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations bannerUCLA

In Search of a Style: French Violin Performance from Franck to Ravel

Abstract

My dissertation focuses on issues of French sound and style in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century French violin repertoire. As a violinist who studied at the Paris Conservatory, I have long been puzzled as to why so little had been written about something that everyone seems to take for granted--so called French style.

I attacked this elusive issue from three perspectives: 1) a detailed look at performance directions; 2) comparisons among recordings by artists close to this period (Jacques Thibaud, Zino Francescatti, as well as contemporary French artists such as Philippe Graffin and Guillaume Sutre); and 3) interviews with three living French violinists (Olivier Charlier, Régis Pasquier, and Gérard Poulet) with strong ties to this tradition. After listening to countless historical recordings, I settled on three pivotal works that illustrate the emergence and full flowering of the French style: César Franck's Violin Sonata (1886), Claude Debussy's Violin Sonata (1917), and Maurice Ravel's Tzigane: Rapsodie de Concert pour Violon et Piano (1924). Each of them presents specific challenges: notational and stylistic issues in Franck's Violin Sonata, Debussy's performance directions in his Violin Sonata, and notational and interpretive issues in Ravel's Tzigane that led to a separate, orally-transmitted French tradition.

While a detailed survey of three iconic works cannot speak for an entire era, my study is the first to address in depth issues that any violinist contemplating a performance of these works must face. At the same time I believe that the focus on performance--the ultimate goal of all music making--will be of interest to many serious music lovers.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View