Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français
Encyclopedia
The Symphony on a French Mountain Air , Op.
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...

 25, written in 1886
1886 in music
- Events :*March 21 - Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 is performed for the first time publicly in Vienna, conducted by Hans Richter. This is his breakthrough work....

 by Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...

, is virtually the only work by the composer that still receives regular performances today.

As indicated by the title, d'Indy took the principal theme
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...

 from a folk song
French folk music
As Europe experienced a wave of roots revivals in the 1950s and 60s, France found its regional culture reviving traditional music. Brittany, Limousin, Gascony, Corsica and Auvergne were among the regions that experienced a notable resurgence in the popularity of folk music...

 he heard at Périer overlooking the Cévennes
Cévennes
The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche, and Haute-Loire.The word Cévennes comes from the Gaulish Cebenna, which was Latinized by Julius Caesar to Cevenna...

 mountains (hence the work's alternative name, Symphonie cévenole). Originally conceived as a fantaisie
Fantasia (music)
The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form ....

 for piano and orchestra, the symphony is unusual in that it is scored for a prominent (but never dominant) piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 part together with 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...

, and has acquired the label sinfonia concertante
Sinfonia concertante
Sinfonia concertante is a musical form that emerged during the Classical period of Western music. It is essentially a mixture of the symphony and the concerto genres: a concerto in that one or more soloists are on prominent display, and a symphony in that the soloists are nonetheless discernibly a...

 from some critics.

It consists of three movements
Movement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

 and lasts just under half an hour:
  • Assez lent - Modérément animé
  • Assez modéré, mais sans lenteur
  • Animé

The symphony begins with an evocative melody played first by a cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....

. The main themes of subsequent movements are based on this melody, and as the symphony progresses each subsequent variation becomes more and more like the original version.

The work was dedicated to Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène
Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène
Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène was notable French pianist, who premiered major works by César Franck, Vincent d'Indy and others....

, who was the soloist at the premiere in Paris in 1888.

External links

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