Abstract The Société Nationale de Musique was founded by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) and his colleagues in 1871; its establishment marked the beginning of the French Musical Renaissance. Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was one of the most important composers among this movement, and all his ten works for different combinations of instrument enriched the repertoire of the French chamber music. Among these ten works, Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in A major, Op.13 is a masterpiece among Faur顦s early works. Although Faure wasn't an expert in violin, he still experimented on a variety of timbre in this work with the help of violinist Hubert Léonard (1819- 1890). This document can be divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the Faure¡¦s life, style, and chamber music works. The second parts briefly introduce the work¡¦s background and composing techniques of Faur顦s Op.13. The third part further discusses with performing techniques and interpretations of this sonata. Through the research of this work, author, hopefully, could help violinists will not only focus on the technique stage but also convey the idea of the composer more accurately while playing this work.

Claude Debussy is one of the most important composers in France in the late nineteenth century. Since Debussy¡¦s compositional style is similar to with the ¡§Impressionism¡¨ in painting which prevails at that time. As a result, Debussy¡¦s compositional style is considered as the Impressionism in music. This study provides an overall view of the Debussy¡¦s final work, ¡§Violin Sonata¡¨, which displays the hazy atmosphere of Impressionism. The showing virtuostic techniques of Debussy¡¦s violin sonata are greatly different from the works of Henry Wieniawski and Pablo de Sarasate who emphasize on showing virtuostic technique. This sonata expresses rich and imaginary feelings by particular alternation of tone color, requiring many musical terminologies that exactly indicate not only the change of the tempo but also the position of the playing so that player can achieve an ideal timbre or convey the emotion. Except the preface and conclusion, this thesis includes two parts. The first part discusses about Debussy and Impressionism, briefly introducing his life and raising examples to show some characters of Impressionism in this work. The second part describes the historical background of his violin sonata and his compositional techniques on rhythm and musical figure such as ostinato, tautaphony, polyphony. Moreover, it also respectively explores how to express the emotion and the appropriate performance techniques for dealing with the dynamics with Debussy¡¦s instructions on each chapter.

Thesis (D.A.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Nov. 12, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisors: James Buhler and Eugene Gratovich. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Lecture : Prokofiev's stylistic diversity in Sonata in D major, op. 94 a, for violin and piano -- Sonata in D major, op. 94a, for violin and piano. / text

Four seasons for piano trio / A. Piazzolla -- Piano quartet no. 1 in g minor, op. 25 / J. Brahms. / text

Tempo di minuetto / F. Kreisler -- Sonata for violin and piano no. 7 in C minor, op. 30, no. 2 / L. van Beethoven -- Sonata for violin and piano, no. 28 in E-flat major, K. 380 / W. A. Mozart -- Suite italienne / I. Stravinsky. / text

Genre, style, and characteristics in Beethoven's piano and violin sonata op. 24 in F major -- Sonata for piano and violin, op. 24 in F major / Ludwig van Beethoven. / text

Thematic unity and modal mixture in Francis Poulenc's violin sonata -- Violin sonata / Francis Poulenc. / text

Piano quartet in E-flat major, op.47 / Robert Schumann -- Piano quartet iin G minor, op.25 / Johannes Brahms. / text