Journeau and Musicora

Every year, at "Musicora", the French publisher "Editions Combre" (F5) helps us to discover new works by the French composer Maurice Journeau.

This year, one may find the "Sonate pour piano et violon" (opus 6), composed in 1923. Journeau was then 25 years old. He wrote his Sonata in Biarritz, his birthplace. There he could admire the sea landscape everyday. The impressive, huge waves and the cry of the seabirds above were the daily background music he heard. His studies at the "Ecole Normale de Musique" in Paris had come to an end. And Paris was far. Yet he remained thankful to his masters. He dedicated the Sonata to Max d'Ollone (then, his Trio to Nadia Boulanger).

American musicologists may find enthusiastic criticism in Californian newspapers, in 1925. A year when the Sonata was played in Los Angeles (on November 5th). They only have to consult the "Los Angeles Evening Express" and "Los Angeles Evening Herald" on November 6th, 1925. Also the "Los Angeles Saturday night" on November 14th, 1925. Why was the Sonata played so far abroad at the time ? The reason is that Sol Cohen, an American violinist, attended too Nadia Boulanger's cursus in the rue Ballu. So, when he returned to his native land, he intended to play the work of his French friend. A long time after, his Sonata will be recorded for the composer's centenary by a young duet of musicians from Blois (a French town famous for its castle).

There exists a second Sonata, a very mature work: the "Deuxième Sonate pour violon" (op.24, 1939). This one was premièred in 1947 in Paris, with works by Jean Langlais (a French composer and well-known organist) and Canadian composers. But this is another story…