Violin professor honors Veterans Day with World War I-themed concert

Guillaume Sutre can still see traces of the impact that World War I left on his native Douai, France, ravaged by the battles fought so close to his home.

“We still have this big cemetery … where you feel there’s nothing much that is growing because the battles of the first war were so intense and so deep and so long that you still have some devastation,” said Sutre, a UCLA violin professor.

Sutre said knowing how the war affected Douai was an important part of his childhood and remains important to him now.

To commemorate Veterans Day, Sutre and Belgian pianist Steven Vanhauwaert will perform Claude Debussy’s Violin and Piano Sonata, Georges Antoine’s Violin and Piano Sonata, Op. 3 and Hans Pfitzner’s Violin and Piano Sonata, Op. 27 in Schoenberg Hall on Tuesday.

Sutre and Vanhauwaert will play together after collaborating on their album, “The Musicians and the Great War, Intimate Thoughts,” which was released in October.

The album features pieces by composers like Georges Antoine, Lili Boulanger and F.S. Kelly, who were involved in World War I in some way.

Boulanger tended to the wounded in France, while Antoine and Kelly were soldiers on the front lines. Sutre said all the composers still wrote music.

Sutre said the concert is meant to celebrate the album’s release, but will also honor these composers.

“For them, composing was like a need to survive and to maybe also give a little testament,” Sutre said. “(It was) to describe a little bit of the war experience.”

Vanhauwaert added that the different experiences of the composers affect the sound of the pieces. He and Sutre chose to perform compositions by Pfitzner, Debussy and Antoine to see how their music reflected their experiences.

Vanhauwaert said some people cling to the past like Antoine, while Boulanger’s music contains a profound sadness.

Sutre and Vanhauwaert chose Debussy’s sonata to have a composition that was not on the album, but still emblematic of the war.

Debussy wrote the Violin and Piano Sonata at a time in his life when he was distressed about the war and felt very nationalistic, said Antonio Lysy, a UCLA cello professor.

While Debussy did not fight, Sutre said he had many friends who died as soldiers. He said Debussy wanted to dedicate his music to the French as a way to support his countrymen through the composition of his music.

Pfitzner’s Violin and Piano Sonata, Op. 27, reflects how Pfitzner dealt with the catastrophic effects of World War I, Vanhauwaert said.

Vanhauwaert described the piece as a composition with nearly atonal harmonies that give the piece a heavy, stretched feeling and a sense of falling apart that reflected the devastation of war.

“It’s amazing how a series of notes and harmonies and melodies (come) together,” he said. “If they’re put together really well, they can make a really purified unit, like something that really hangs together and tells a message.”

Sutre chose to hold the concert before Veterans Day out of respect for the other ceremonies that will be held to thank those who have served in the military. Still, Sutre wanted the program to commemorate those affected by World War I.

“(The recital) is a little homage,” Sutre said. “Not only for the composers, but all the people who fought in their own way to establish peace.”