Camille Saint-Saëns's Barcarolle in F major, Op. 108 is a chamber composition for a quartet consisting of violin, cello, harmonium (or organ) and piano. Composed in 1898, the work also exists in a version for violin, cello, viola and piano created by the composer in 1909. [1] [2] [3]
The Barcarolle was Saint-Saëns's second attempt at composing for this combination of instruments, with an 1897 attempt being abandoned after five and a half pages. [2] In 1865 he had composed the Serenade Op. 15 for a similar combination with a viola rather than a cello as the fourth instrument. [4] In the first performance, which took place at the musical society La Trompette on 18 May 1898, the piano was played by Louis Diémer, the violin by Guillaume Rémy , the cello by Jules Delsart, with the composer playing the harmonium. [3] [5] [6]
The work is dedicated to Antonio Jeanbernat, who initiated two festivals of Saint-Saëns' works in Barcelona. [7]
The composition is structured as a single movement marked Allegretto moderato . [3] Performance time is around 8 to 10 minutes.
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto (1868), the First Cello Concerto (1872), Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the Third Violin Concerto (1880), the Third ("Organ") Symphony (1886) and The Carnival of the Animals (1886).
The Carnival of the Animals is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements, including "The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for private performance by two pianos and chamber ensemble; Saint-Saëns prohibited public performance of the work during his lifetime, feeling that its frivolity would damage his standing as a serious composer. The suite was published in 1922, the year after his death. A public performance in the same year was greeted with enthusiasm, and the work has remained among his most popular. In addition to the original version for chamber ensemble, the suite is frequently performed with a full orchestral complement of strings.
Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
Henri Marteau was a French violinist and composer, who obtained Swedish citizenship in 1915.
A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. In jazz, a septet is any group of seven players, usually containing a drum set, string bass or electric bass, and groups of one or two of the following instruments, guitar, piano, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, or trombone. See, for example, Miles Davis, and Chick Corea's 1984 album, Septet.
A barcarolle is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the most famous barcarolles are Jacques Offenbach's "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour", from his opera The Tales of Hoffmann; and Frédéric Chopin's Barcarolle in F-sharp major for solo piano.
In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration. This juxtaposition of the two terms was first made in 1843 by Hector Berlioz in his Grand traité d'instrumentation et d'orchestration modernes, and various attempts have since been made to differentiate them. Instrumentation is a more general term referring to an orchestrator's, composer's or arranger's selection of instruments in varying combinations, or even a choice made by the performers for a particular performance, as opposed to the narrower sense of orchestration, which is the act of scoring for orchestra a work originally written for a solo instrument or smaller group of instruments.
A bagatelle is a short piece of music, typically for the piano, and usually of a light, mellow character. The name bagatelle literally means "a short unpretentious instrumental composition" as a reference to the light style of a piece. Although bagatelles are generally written for solo piano, they have also been written for piano four hands, harpsichord, harp, organ, classical guitar, vibraphone, unaccompanied oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, various chamber-music configurations, orchestra, band, voice and piano, and a cappella choir.
Louis van Waefelghem was a Belgian violinist, violist and one of the greatest viola d'amore players of the 19th century. He also composed several works and made transcriptions for viola and viola d'amore.
Jules Delsart was a 19th-century French cellist and teacher. He is best known for his arrangement for cello and piano of César Franck's Violin Sonata in A major. Musicologist Lynda MacGregor described Delsart as "one of the foremost French cellists of the period, with faultless technique, a precise bow and a sweet, though not large, tone." He was the owner of the 1689 'Archinto' Stradivari.
Camille Saint-Saëns' Serenade in E-flat major, Op. 15 is a chamber composition for a quartet consisting of piano, organ, violin and viola, composed in 1865. It is one of the earliest works by the composer to make use of an organ in a chamber ensemble, preceded only by the Six Duos for harmonium and piano, Op. 8. In addition to the original scoring, the work has been transcribed for orchestra, piano solo, piano four-hands, and for piano quartet, with a cello taking the part of the organ.
The Piano Quartet in E major, Op. posth., by Camille Saint-Saëns, also known as the Piano Quartet No. 1 in E major, WoO, was one of the composer's earliest compositions for piano, violin, viola and cello. Completed in 1853, when he was 18 years of age, the quartet remained in manuscript until 1992.
The Piano Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 26 by Henrique Oswald was composed in the second half of 1898. It is scored for piano, violin, viola and cello. The approximate duration is 25–30 minutes.
The Septet in E♭ major, Op. 65, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns between 1879 and 1880 for the unusual combination of trumpet, two violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano. Like the suites Opp. 16, 49, 90, the septet is a neoclassical work that revives 17th-century French dance forms, reflecting Saint-Saëns's interest in the largely forgotten French musical traditions of the 17th century.
La Trompette was a chamber music society based in Paris, founded by Émile Lemoine in January 1861. It has been credited with a major role in the propagation of chamber music in France. Performers included Camille Saint-Saëns, Louis Diémer, Paul Taffanel, Felix Weingartner, Pablo Casals, Harold Bauer, Wanda Landowska, Alfred Cortot, and Serge Koussevitzky.
The Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns in October 1885. Dedicated to Martin Pierre Marsick, it was premiered on 9 January 1886 in Paris. The sonata has been called one of Saint-Saëns' neglected masterpieces.
The Violin Sonata No. 2 in E♭ major, Op. 102, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns from February to March 1896, and premiered on 2 June 1896 in Paris.
The Piano Quartet in B♭ major, Op. 41, also known as the Piano Quartet No. 2, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns in February 1875. Dedicated to Jules Foucault, it was premiered on 6 March 1875 in Paris. It has been called one of Saint-Saëns' neglected masterpieces and is in the core repertoire of the piano quartet.
