Schulhoff, E :: Flute Sonata

Flute Sonata

Schulhoff, E

^{"Erwin Schulhoff was one of that great generation of 20th-century Central European composers whose careers and lives were snuffed out by the senseless policies and violence of Hitler’s Third Reich. Born in Prague, he studied at that city’s conservatory (at Dvorak’s behest), as well as those of Vienna, Leipzig, and Cologne; his teachers included Debussy and Max Reger. After World War 1, those influences joined with even more progressive ones – particularly the Second Viennese School of Arnold Schoenberg and the rhythms, contours, and energy of American jazz – to form in Schulhoff a thoroughly distinctive voice. And, for a good part of the twenty years between Versailles and the invasion of Poland, he was acclaimed as one of the day’s great composers and performers (he was an accomplished pianist, as well).}

^{Schulhoff’s Sonata for Flute and Piano dates from the middle of that era. He wrote it for his friend, the flutist René le Roy, with whom he premiered the piece in Paris in April 1927. Evidently, Schulhoff was somewhat dismissive of the score, describing it to an editor of his publisher, Universal Edition, as “printed kitsch, but skillfully made.” Contemporary critics seem to have agreed with that assessment, though many also took pains to note its overall ingratiating character.}

^{The Sonata’s four movements pass by in a flash. The first, something of a trope on the traditional sonata-allegro form, marries Impressionistic and jazz influences. For the second, Schulhoff wrote a blistering Scherzo whose driving energy leads to a surprising coda. The third is a haunting “Aria” featuring a searching flute melody accompanied by the piano’s steady harmonic progressions. A highly involved and contrapuntal rondo then closes out this most genial of flute sonatas."}

^{-Jonathan Blumhofer}