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Tackling the Sonatine - Part 1

July 15, 2025 - 2 min read

“What remains as one of the minor mysteries of the last half-century of musical history is the fact that, for all the immediate attractiveness of his compositional voice, the work of Jean-Michel Damase has remained such a well-kept secret.”

This quote by Christopher Morley is exactly what drew me to Jean-Michel Damase’s Sonatine pour Deux Harpes. When I picked up a copy of its score in a giveaway box at the University of Maryland’s performing arts library, I didn’t think much of it except for a French name and an unknown composer. After taking it back home, it took me three months to sit down and finally listen to the piece, and then listen again, and three times more. Something about Damase’s music is so charming, stylish, and effortlessly amusant. It took me no time to realize that I wanted to take this piece and transform it into something I could play myself (with the help of others!).