Harlequin Sonata, for contrabassoon and piano

Recorded for the UWEC First Friday's faculty concert series at the Pablo Center at the Confluence. Nicholas Phillips, Piano Program notes by the composer, Elaine Fine: The Harlequin is one of the stock characters in the Commedia dell'arte, or "Italian Comedy," a genre of largely improvisational theater that was extremely popular in Italy beginning in the 15th century. A typical troupe had 10 stock characters, play either by actors or by puppets, and the plays were based around conventional comedic situations. Jean-Francois Marmontel (1723-1799) describes the character of the Harlequin, one of the most important of the stock characters, in much the same way one might describe the character of the contrabassoon. "The model Harlequin is all suppleness and agility, with the grace of a young cat, yet equipped with a superficial coarseness that renders his performances more amusing; the role is that of a lackey, patient, faithful, credulous, gluttonous, always in love, always in difficulties either on his master's account or on his own, afflicting himself and consoling himself again with the readiness of a child, one whose sorrows are as amusing as his joys." This Harlequin Sonata was written in 2006 at the request of Susan Nigro.