Program​

Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello, M.73
I. Allegro
II. Très vif
III. Lent
IV. Vif, avec entrain

Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio in C minor, Op.9 No.3
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Adagio con espressione
III. Scherzo. Allegro molto e vivace
IV. Finale. Presto

Date: May 19, 2025
​Time: 7:30pm
Location: First Congregational Church of Webster Groves
Address: 10 W Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves, MO 63119  
Admission: Free

Concert Artists

Hannah Ji, Violin

Bjorn Ranheim, Cello

Shannon Farrell Williams, Viola

Kristin Ahlstrom, Violin

Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello, M.73
Maurice Ravel (b.1875 - d.1937), a French composer, is often associated with the period of Impressionism. He was born in a Basque town, Ciboure, near the Spanish border. His mother was Basque, although she grew up in Madrid. Ravel’s Spanish heritage was often an inspiration for his compositions. They contain many references to Spanish folk tunes and traditional
Spanish music. During the 1920s and 1930s, Ravel experienced a great deal of fame and was considered the greatest living French composer.

​It was at the beginning of his success in 1920-1922 that Ravel composed the Sonata for Violin and Cello. Ravel dedicated the duo to Claude Debussy, who had died in 1918. During the early 1920s, in reaction to the end of WW1, it was the trend to compose works of a smaller scale and avoid writing large-scale works such as those by Mahler and Strauss. As a result, many of Ravel’s works during that time were a bit more sparse in texture. It is also noticeable in his works of the 1920s that Ravel had an interest in atonality and was influenced by the jazz music that was popular in Parisian cafes of the day.

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Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio in C minor, Op.9 No.3
Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in December of 1770 in Bonn, Germany, and died in Vienna, Austria, in 1827. Beethoven is arguably the most famous composer that has ever lived. There is rarely someone who hasn’t heard the famous theme of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Beethoven’s music has been performed countless times by musicians around the world for more
than two centuries! His earliest known work, variations for piano based on a march by Ernst Christopher Dressler, was written in 1782 when Beethoven was 11 years old. Beethoven's last completed composition was his String Quartet No.16 in F major, Op. 135. During the 45 years that Beethoven was composing, he completed at least 722 works!

Beethoven was only 27 years old when he began to compose his string trios from Op. 9. Between the years of 1797 and 1798, he completed three trios, consisting of four movements each, for violin, viola, and cello. At the time of publication, Beethoven considered his Op. 9 trios to be among his best compositions, and they were the natural predecessor to his early string quartets. However, once his first string quartets were published in 1801, they began to overshadow his string trios in popularity, and Beethoven did not return to composing string trios again.

It is interesting to note that while composing the trios and early string quartets, Beethoven still had the use of his hearing. It wasn’t until 1802 that he began struggling with early symptoms of deafness.