Composers

Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)
Of the circle of composers inspired by Jean Cocteau and known as "Les Six", Francis Poulenc was the most original, though he had initially been discounted as a harmless joker (and indeed closely resembled the comedian Fernandel). He had style, taste and an inexhaustible melodic inventiveness. His violin sonata was written in 1943 in memory of Federico Garcia, and was dedicated to the violinist Ginette Neveu. It is a lively piece, shifting in mood between seriousness and an iridescent sweetness, and is valued by many performers for its eccentricities.
Wikipedia

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
In Germany there is regrettably little awareness of Gabriel Fauré as a major composer of romantic French chamber music. Particularly in his later works, the colour and refinement of 'salon music' (in the best sense of the term) are combined with purity, transparency and simplicity: the product of a lifetime's skill and experience. Typically French is the way in which the 'Mélodie' of vocal music, in all its originality and diversity, finds its way into piano and other chamber works. Of Fauré's two violin sonatas, the first (in A major, op. 13) is popular both with performers and with informed listeners on account of its perfect blend of power, elegance and melancholy.
Wikipedia

Sergej Prokofjev (1891 - 1953)
Sergei Prokofiev achieved early fame as a concert pianist; later, like many of the young Russian musicians of the period, he became interested in modern, politically less acceptable music. His compositions stemming from his time in the USA and Paris shocked audiences before he returned to his home country in 1936. He worked on his first violin sonata for eight years or so; it was first performed in Moscow in 1946 by the composer's musical (and chess-playing) friend David Oistrakh, to whom the work was also dedicated, and the pianist Lev Oborin. The work was awarded a Stalin Prize a year later.
The Sergej Prokofjev Foundation
Wikipedia

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
Maurice Ravel came from a musical family, but at first he struggled in vain to achieve recognition as a composer. From his student days he had good contacts to artistic circles and was well known amongst aficionados. Despite the limited size of his oeuvre, Ravel has become one of the most frequently heard composers. The second violin sonata dates from 1923-7; it is notable for the unusual jazz rhythms in the second movement and for the technically demanding perpetuum mobile with which it ends. The highly successful first performance was given by the violinist George Enescu, with Ravel himself at the piano.
www.maurice-ravel.net
Wikipedia