Introduction and Rondo capriccioso (Saint-Saëns)
Encyclopedia
The Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor , Op.
28, is a composition for violin
and orchestra
written in 1863
by Camille Saint-Saëns
for the virtuoso
violin
ist Pablo de Sarasate
. Since its 19th-century premiere, it has continued to be one of Saint-Saëns's most popular compositions.
, like many other French Romantic composers such as Édouard Lalo
and Georges Bizet
, held a deep interest in the style of Spanish dance music. This style permeates his solo violin works, particularly the Havanaise, op. 83, and the Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso. In 1859, the 15 year old violin prodigy Pablo de Sarasate
approached the celebrated composer and commissioned a violin concerto, which the flattered Saint-Saëns proceeded to compose (this piece became Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 1 in A major). Four years later, in 1863, Saint-Saëns wrote yet another solo piece for Sarasate: The Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor for violin and orchestra. Sarasate premiered this piece in Paris on April 4, 1867. Despite their later disagreements, Claude Debussy
arranged the piece for two pianos in the earlier years of his career.
In bar 37 the orchestra then takes over the rhythmic motion with a steady 6/8 pulse. The soloist then enters with the lilting syncopated melody of the rondo. Saint-Saëns employs the harmonic minor rather than the melodic minor mode to emphasize the innate Spanish flair of the melody. The violin sways down the melody in a scalar passage just to jump up again with dominant arpeggios and finally land on the second theme in bar 73. The second theme brings back the dotted eighth note theme from the introduction and ornaments it with trills and octave jumps in the solo and steady rhythmic accompaniment. The soloist then jolts into upward scalar patterns in bar 88 followed by falling arpeggios and one final flourish bringing back the rondo theme.
After a short orchestral interlude and a violin imitation the rhythm takes on an even more unstable twist as the violin moves into 2/4 while the orchestra stays in 6/8. The pleading melody of the violin changes from a single line to a two voice double stop passage climbing up into the higher register of the instrument just to snap back to a quick and winding melody back in 6/8. With an extended falling chromatic scale and another upward flourish, the rondo theme returns and is shortly followed by a reiteration of the orchestral interlude in a new key which is again imitated by the violin.
The solo then proceeds to the second theme but rather than returning to the first theme itself, it throws it off to the orchestra. The orchestra is brought to a stop when the soloist cuts through the texture with a rhapsodic triple-stop passage followed by a faster paced extended coda in A Major to finish the piece.
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
28, is a composition for violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
written in 1863
1863 in music
-Events:*May 10 - Violinist Joseph Joachim marries contralto Amalie Schneeweiss.*September 30 - Georges Bizet's opera, Les pêcheurs de perles debuts at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris....
by Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
for the virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...
. Since its 19th-century premiere, it has continued to be one of Saint-Saëns's most popular compositions.
History
Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
, like many other French Romantic composers such as Édouard Lalo
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was a French composer.-Biography:Lalo was born in Lille , in northernmost France. He attended that city's music conservatory in his youth. Then, beginning at age 16, Lalo studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Berlioz's old enemy François Antoine Habeneck...
and Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
, held a deep interest in the style of Spanish dance music. This style permeates his solo violin works, particularly the Havanaise, op. 83, and the Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso. In 1859, the 15 year old violin prodigy Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo de Sarasate
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...
approached the celebrated composer and commissioned a violin concerto, which the flattered Saint-Saëns proceeded to compose (this piece became Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 1 in A major). Four years later, in 1863, Saint-Saëns wrote yet another solo piece for Sarasate: The Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor for violin and orchestra. Sarasate premiered this piece in Paris on April 4, 1867. Despite their later disagreements, Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
arranged the piece for two pianos in the earlier years of his career.
Style and structure
The piece opens with a 36-bar theme in A minor, establishing key as well as rhythmic and harmonic themes. The orchestra supports the violin with block chord progressions while the soloist plays virtuosic arpeggios and chromatic scalar passages. Saint-Saëns destabilizes the rhythm of the soloist oscillating between syncopated rising arpeggios and falling eighth notes. In bar 18 the motion picks up when the tempo indication changes from Andante malinconico to animato and the soloist jumps into a rapid thirty-second note line. The introduction concludes with a tranquillo cadenza in which the violin visits all registers of the instrument decorating a dominant chord.In bar 37 the orchestra then takes over the rhythmic motion with a steady 6/8 pulse. The soloist then enters with the lilting syncopated melody of the rondo. Saint-Saëns employs the harmonic minor rather than the melodic minor mode to emphasize the innate Spanish flair of the melody. The violin sways down the melody in a scalar passage just to jump up again with dominant arpeggios and finally land on the second theme in bar 73. The second theme brings back the dotted eighth note theme from the introduction and ornaments it with trills and octave jumps in the solo and steady rhythmic accompaniment. The soloist then jolts into upward scalar patterns in bar 88 followed by falling arpeggios and one final flourish bringing back the rondo theme.
After a short orchestral interlude and a violin imitation the rhythm takes on an even more unstable twist as the violin moves into 2/4 while the orchestra stays in 6/8. The pleading melody of the violin changes from a single line to a two voice double stop passage climbing up into the higher register of the instrument just to snap back to a quick and winding melody back in 6/8. With an extended falling chromatic scale and another upward flourish, the rondo theme returns and is shortly followed by a reiteration of the orchestral interlude in a new key which is again imitated by the violin.
The solo then proceeds to the second theme but rather than returning to the first theme itself, it throws it off to the orchestra. The orchestra is brought to a stop when the soloist cuts through the texture with a rhapsodic triple-stop passage followed by a faster paced extended coda in A Major to finish the piece.