Emmanuel Maurice. Sonatine no. 6 pour piano

Paris: H. Lemoine, 1928. — 11 p.Yvonne Lefébure was the dedicatee of the Sixth Sonatina (op. 23), the shortest of the series, though it is particularly colourful and of great technical difficulty. While its three movements, a Scherzando in 6/8, a boldly written Adagio in 3/4, and a sparkling Toccata in 2/4 (Presto con fuoco) are in ‘official’ tonalities (A major for the outer movements, F major for the Adagio), Emmanuel’s language was never more liberated, more elliptical, more subtle or more radiantly youthful. Within seven short minutes everything is said, and a piece like this deserves the epithet that appears in the dedication by Webern of the Bagatelles op. 9 to his teacher Schönberg: “Non multa, sed multum” (‘not a lot, but much’): nothing but the pith and the marrow. Like its sister pieces, this ultimate sonatina deserves to become a classic, and in the hands of performers worthy of rising to their challenges, these sonatinas are today unquestionably classics.