The Sonata for Violoncello and Piano exhibits the composer's characteristic mastery in the use of modes, whole-tone and pentatonic scales and brilliant coloration, and the various figurations and rhythmic elements suggest the influence of Couperin and Rameau. Debussy chose the eighteenth-century monothematic sonata as his formal model, which, in the hands of such a highly innovative composer, resulted in one of the most profound and frequently performed works for the celloThe inspiration for the...