Integrating Incompatibilities: Melodic, Harmonic, and Formal Dissonance in Ravel's Duo and Violin Sonata

Ravel’s approach to composition after the First World War began to integrate certain contemporary techniques, such as austere textures and exposed dissonance, while maintaining many of his “classical” debts, particularly his penchant for sonata form and functional bass lines. His use of the sonata design in the Duo for Violin and Cello (1920–22) and Violin Sonata (1923–27) provided him a template in which formal problems were created and worked through. As Peter Kaminsky suggests, “the problem that Ravel chooses to solve in a given work extends to and indeed is central to the formal process itself.”1 Sigrun Heinzelmann likewise argues that Ravel’s formal manipulations are central to his compositional process.2 Through the integration of Hepokoski and Darcy’s rotational design theories with a specialized Schenkerian approach, Heinzelmann highlights Ravel’s interesting approach to the sonata medium in his prewar period—most notably his String Quartet and Piano Trio.3 In part, both analysts reveal ways in which Ravel subverts expectations. For Kaminksy, Ravel’s “compositional wizardry” often involves melodic emphasis, nuanced superimpositions, and form-generating