Janáček’s “Fairy Tale for Cello and Piano” is one of the most representative chamber music works of the 20th century. 

 “Fairy tale” is based on “The Story of Tsar Berendyey”, a poem by Vasily Zhukovsky. This famous poem was also used in Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite”. In this poem, Russia’s legendary Prince Ivan falls in love with Princess Maria, daughter of the immortal king of the underworld, Kashchei. The prince eventually succeeds in defeating Kaschchei and he accomplishes his love with the Princess.

It lasts about 10 minutes. It was written from 1907 to 1910. It was premiered two years later, in 1912. He added his piano work ‘In the Mist’ as the fourth movement to the original three-movement version. Janáček’s was, however, was not widely known in Europe at that time and thus his work could not be published there then.  It was eventually published in 1923 after he became more famous. (He began to compose many operas during his love and passionate relationship with Kamila Stösslová. It was around this time that his reputation grew wider in the entire Europe.) By then, Janacek already composed short presto movement in addition to four-movement structure at the time of the premiere. But he feared about tedium as the publication was near, so he removed that additional movement and published it as a three-movement work.

Debussy planned to compose “Six sonates pour divers Instruments” in his late years. But he died in 1918 with cancer after completing only three of them. The “Cello Sonata No.1 in D minor” was the first of these. He also composed a violin sonata and a sonata for flute, viola, and harp. 

The sonata is in three movements and lasts only about 10 minutes. The normal composition traits of Debussy, such as authentic modes, whole tones, and pentatonic scales are effectively used and clearly can be felt.

The prologue in the first movement is in a sonata form and slowly progresses. The second movement, which is a serenade in a ternary form, switches back and forth between cello’s pizzicato and piano’s staccato. This creates an atmosphere of fantasy and thus seems to indicate that the shadow of death also prevails. The wide range of cello’s techniques, such as left-hand pizzicato, wide harmonics, portamento (a vocal slide between two pitches), and spiccato (the bow bounces lightly upon the string) are present in this movement. It finishes with attaca and is immediately followed by the final third movement, which is a rondo. This movement begins with a lively theme of cello and with a fast tempo by piano. The cello performs oriental and lyrical sounding melodies and develops the subjects in various forms. These oriental themes go through various changes with a free tempo. The work ends with an energetic coda. 

“Divertimento” was originally composed in three movements in 1994: Serenade, Scherzo, and Nocturne. It was added by Sarabande, Tempo di valse, and Aria in 2001, 2004, and 2006, respectively. 

This composition has traditional musical structures (Serenade, Scherzo, and nocturne) and elements of Baroque dances. But it also gives a lively feeling from a wide range of techniques and romantic execution of playing. It has similar structures to those of the clarinet concerto, though divertimento places serenade as the first piece, while the clarinet concerto was written in the order of the nocturne, scherzo, and serenade. The introduction begins with antique style of serenade. It is followed by passionate scherzo that uses pizzicato and col legno. Then the melancholic and retrospective nocturne enters. It ends with toccata.

Penderecki’s cello pieces were influenced by his close relationship with the world famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Along with his second cello concerto, premiered in 1982, this Divertimento was composed at Rostropovich’s request. Penderecki dedicated “Per Slava” to Rostropovich. It is no exaggeration to say that Penderecki’s works developed more from his ongoing collaboration with Rostropovich, a cellist with excellent techniques. 

“Divertimento” was premiered in Koln in 1994 by Boris Pergamenschikow.

The work is in three movements. It has traditional concerto structures. It places a slow tempo in the second movement. In the traditional sonata form first movement, allegro, the elegant main melodies of cello lead the grave atmosphere into a cheerful one. The second movement, Largo, is delicate and beautiful in contrast to the fieriness of the first movement. The emotion vented out from the first movement is now expressed in sorrowful songlike passages. This kind of atmosphere continues in the next movement and is spread throughout the entire pieces. The final third movement, Finale-Allegro Commodo, is filled with Martinu’s Bohemian soul. It ends with the recapitulation of the first movement and the development. 

Martinu’s music has a wide range of characters, such as Baroque style concertos, Czech folk music, and jazz. He immersed himself with the music of Debussy and Stravinsky. His multiplicity can be observed through the patterns of his life.