ABSTRACT
The paucity of sonatas in Charles Valentin Alkan's output compared with etudes and miniatures is indicative of the general reluctance of French composers to be as enthusiastic about the sonata genre as their German compatriots. The French eighteenth-century piano sonata was rather different. The change in musical taste around 1830 discussed in the historical introduction triggered a growth of composers of piano sonatas who were charlatans of the first order. The most favourable period for piano sonata composition in France was after 1850 when a classical revival took place. The Grande Sonate op 33 looks forward to the era of the tone poem of Richard Strauss whereas the Sonatine op 61 is an affectionate tribute to the already extinct classical world which Alkan valued for clarity of expression and form. The Sonatine op 61 retains the four movement classical structure and is an inspired expression of Alkan as classical form builder.
