For Debussy, le faire plaisir (the giving of pleasure) was the supreme goal of French music. His wish has been fulfilled a hundred fold. Jean Françaix is one of those great composers in this wonderful tradition which includes Satie, the composers of Les Six, and composers through the present.

The works of Françaix are charming, witty, distinguished by their clarity and facility. His style is defined by an innate sense of humor, by his extensive awareness of history and culture and his use of the colorful palate of the language of western music.

Françaix was born on May 23, 1912 at Mans, where his father, Alfred Françaix, was the director of the Conservatory for sixteen years and his mother gave singing lessons. His young life was filled with the wonders of music, art and literature. After learning the basics of music from his father Jean left for Paris to study piano and composition. There he became a student of the celebrate teacher, Nadia Boulanger, and won the Paris conservatoire's first prize in piano at the age of eighteen. He was only twenty when he composed his Concertino for Piano and Orchestra which won him his first international success.

Like many composers associated with the Paris Conservatory, Françaix was often asked to compose competition works for various instruments to be performed by the students for examination. Such was the case for the Sonatine for Trumpet and Piano.

The Sonatine is in three short movements in the style of the old Baroque suite; a Prelude, Sarabande and Gigue. Each movement is meant to demonstrate a particular technical facility. The first is a dazzling and charming Prelude that evokes the style of a rondo with its repeating theme and dance like character. The trumpet is put to the test immediately with a dazzling display of light and delicate technique. It requires a suppleness of articulation and gentleness of tone and color. The dynamic is marked piano throughout.

The second movement, Sarabande, demonstrates the lyricism of the trumpet and the long legato lines that are possible. The piano's harmonies are gentle and delicate. Of special note is the wonderful variation at the end of the movement in which the trumpet soars on quick moving and chromatic notes above the theme presented in the piano. Once again the dynamic is very quiet, demonstrating a rarely heard color of the instrument. The movement ends with a small cadenza for the solo trumpet.

The final Gigue, is a robust dance recalling the light and exuberant nature of the instrument. Both trumpet and piano have a wide range of dynamics and color during the movement. The rhythmic nature of the musical material demonstrates the witty nature of Françaix's musical language. The Sonatine ends with a wonderful flourish between both piano and trumpet.