French violoncello music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

For my project I have chosen, learned, studied and performed on my cello, works of five important French composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Saint-Saens, Faure, Tournier, Ravel and Debussy. The main component of this project was an actual concert. This written portion contains academic background and research necessary to understand this important period in French musical history. It contains historical and analytical backgrounds of the pieces as well as my own interpretations of the music as a performer. The pieces chosen represent the different movements and trends in French composers and their music during the turn of the century. Romanticism, Classicism and Impressionism are represented, but all contain the unifying elegance and spirit of the French. Beginning with Saint-Saens and the old "German" school and ending with Debussy, one of the most important and revolutionary figures in the entire history of western music, these pieces represent France's emergence from centuries of Germanic musical domination, to its own intensely national art form.