Jules Massenet - Scènes alsaciennes (Souvenirs)
(Montaud, Saint-Étienne, 12 May 1842 – Paris, 13 August 1912)
Suite for orchestra No.7
Dimanche matin (Allegretto moderato) p.1
Au cabaret (Allegro) p.24
Sous les tilleuls (Adagio sostenuto) p.62
Dimanche soir (Allegro moderato) p.75
Instrumentation: orchestra
Composed: 1881
Premiered: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, 19 March 1882, Concerts Colonne
Published: Georges Hartmann, Paris, 1882
As well as operatic music, Jules Massenet most widely known as the composer of Manon, Werther and Thaïs, wrote seven suites for orchestra which (unjustly) are nowadays not often performed. One of the better known of these is Scènes alsaciennes (Suite n. 7). In this piece, Massenet offers an unfettered outpouring of the nostalgia he feels for the now lost Alsace, a region he had discovered whilst serving in the Garde Nationale during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. French defeat led to the painful loss of Alsace and Lorraine, causing the population to desire revanche, of a cultural kind too; this prompted the French to create a series of products representing the spirit of their nation, in contrast, first and foremost, to the German repertoire.
One of the areas ‘overlooked’ by French musicians over the course of the Nineteenth Century was that of purely instrumental music; concert programmes often referred to the ‘exemplary’ German Romantic tradition, while local composers were concerned with satisfying the needs of the various Parisian theatres with their operatic products. After 1871, the cultural revanche expressed itself in music through the creation of indigenous instrumental pieces: made in France.
One of the ways in which a distinctive French footprint was added to a piece was by referencing a specific region and its intrinsic characteristics. It was largely the landscapes and melodies of the Midi which caught the French composers’ imagination, but there were also homages to Celtic Brittany, the mountains of Auvergne and to regions on the border, such as Alsace.
For his seventh and final suite, Massenet took inspiration from one of the Contes du lundi by the writer Alphonse Daudet, entitled Alsace ! Alsace !. It was published as part of the collection in 1873, but had already appeared on the pages of ‘L’Événement’ on 26 August 1872. When the piece was first performed by Concerts Colonne on 19 March 1882 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, each of the four episodes through which the suite progresses was preceded in the programme by a nostalgic comment from Daudet:
I. — Maintenant surtout que l’Alsace est murée, il me revient de ce pays perdu toutes mes impressions d’autre fois...
Ce que je me rappelle avec bonheur, c’est le village alsacien, le dimanche matin, à l’heure des offices : les rues désertes, les maisons vides, avec quelques vieux qui se chauffent devant leur porte, l’église pleine... et les chants religieux entendus par bouffées au passage...
II. — Et le Cabaret, dans la grande rue, avec ses petits vitraux encadrés de plomb, enguirlandés de houblon et de roses...
Oh ! là ! Schmidt, à boire !
Et la chanson des gardes forestiers se rendant au tir !...
Oh ! la joyeuse vie et les gais compagnons !...
III. — Plus loin encore, c’était toujours le même village, mais avec le grand silence des après-midi d’été... et tout au bout du pays, la longue avenue des tilleuls à l’ombre desquels, la main dans la main, marchait paisiblement un couple amoureux, elle, doucement penchée vers lui et murmurant bien bas : « M’aimeras-tu toujours ?... »
IV. — Aussi le soir, sur la grand’place, que de bruit ! que de mouvement ! tout le monde sur les portes, les
bandes de petits blondins dans la rue et les danses que rythmaient, les chants du pays...
Huit heures !... le bruit des tambours, le chant des clairons... c’était la retraite !... la retraite française !...
Alsace !... Alsace !...
Et quand dans le lointain, s’éteignait le dernier roulement du tambour, les femmes appelaient les enfants sur la route, les vieux rallumaient leurs bonnes grosses pipes et, au son des violons, la danse joyeuse recommençait en rondes plus pressées, en couples plus serrés...
The first movement, Dimanche matin in D major, is an Allegretto moderato which depicts the tranquility of the deserted roads in an Alsacian village at the time of mass. The main theme first appears as a sort of call from the clarinet and the flute, which play it ‘avec un sentiment de calme et de fraîcheur’. The melody is then picked up and developed by different groups of instruments. In the Andante religioso section there is a chorale, a direct reference to the moment of coming together for mass, which then makes way for the initial, tranquil melody to reappear.
Au Cabaret, the second movement, is an Allegro in G major in 3/4. It is a rustic waltz that drags the listener into a lively and picturesque country scene, interrupted briefly by a hunt’s shrill fanfare.
The third movement, Sous les tilleuls, is a sweet and languid Adagio sostenuto in Bb major. A pair of lovers walks down a boulevard in the shade of some lime trees, exchanging promises of love. The atmosphere is immediately created by the long notes played by muted strings over which a far off bell rings ‘Six heures du soir’. There then follows the intense dialogue between the lovers, personified by the cello and clarinet, while the violins embroider a carpet of semiquavers which is ‘mystérieux et expressif’.
The fourth and final movement, Dimanche soir, is an Allegro moderato in D major to be played ‘gaîement at avec une sonorité pleine’. Everyone is joining in with the village festival in the square; there is singing and dancing. Some folkloric melodies appear, including a song which is well known in Alsace: D’r Hans im Schnokeloch (Jean du Trou aux Moustiques). The happy celebration is interrupted, however, by the retraite, which is rung at ‘huit heures du soir’ by clarions and drums. When the sound of the drums finally dies out, the celebration starts up again in a way which is more lively and vivacious than before.
The score for Scènes alsaciennes, which aims at recalling places and events from Alsace rather than stirring up feelings of desperation from the war, was first published by Georges Hartmann in Paris in 1882.
Marica Bottaro, 2019
For performance material please contact Heugel, Paris.
Jules Massenet
(Montaud, Saint-Étienne, 12 maggio 1842 – Parigi, 13 agosto 1912)
Scènes alsaciennes (Souvenirs)
Suite per orchestra n. 7
Dimanche matin (Allegretto moderato) p.1
Au cabaret (Allegro) p.24
Sous les tilleuls (Adagio sostenuto) p.62
Dimanche soir (Allegro moderato) p.75
Organico: orchestra
Composizione: 1881
Prima esecuzione: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, 19 marzo 1882, Concerts Colonne
Edizione: Georges Hartmann, Paris, 1882
Noto ai più come l’autore di Manon, Werther e Thaïs, Jules Massenet ha realizzato, oltre a musica operistica, sette Suite per orchestra, al giorno d’oggi (ingiustamente) poco eseguite. Fra queste, le Scènes alsaciennes (Suite n. 7) sono fra le più note. Massenet, con questa composizione, ha dato libero sfogo alla sua nostalgia per la perduta Alsazia, regione che aveva avuto modo di scoprire mentre serviva nella Garde nationale durante la guerra franco-prussiana del 1870-1871. La sconfitta francese ha comportato la dolorosa perdita dell’Alsazia e della Lorena, che fa scaturire nella popolazione il desiderio di revanche, anche di tipo culturale; questo fatto spinge i francesi a ideare una serie di prodotti rappresentativi dello spirito della loro nazione, in contrapposizione, soprattutto, con il repertorio germanico.
Uno degli ambiti ‘trascurati’ dai musicisti francesi nel corso dell’Ottocento è stato quello della musica puramente strumentale; spesso si è attinto, nei programmi dei concerti, all’‘esemplare’ produzione romantico-tedesca, mentre i compositori locali si sono preoccupati di soddisfare le necessità dei vari teatri parigini con i loro prodotti operistici. Dopo il 1871, con la musica, la revanche culturale si è espressa per mezzo dell’ideazione di brani strumentali autoctoni: made in France.
Uno dei mezzi tramite cui infondere un’impronta inconfondibilmente francese a un brano era quello di far specifico riferimento a una regione e alle sue intrinseche caratteristiche. Sono stati perlopiù i paesaggi e le melodie popolari del Midi a solleticare la fantasia dei compositori di Francia, ma non sono mancati gli omaggi alla celtica Bretagna, alle montagne dell’Alvernia e a regioni di frontiera quali, per l’appunto, l’Alsazia.
Per la sua settima e ultima Suite, Massenet si è ispirato a uno dei Contes du lundi dello scrittore Alphonse Daudet intitolato Alsace ! Alsace !, pubblicato all’interno della raccolta del 1873, ma già apparso sulle pagine de «L’Événement» il 26 agosto 1872. In occasione della prima esecuzione del brano da parte dei Concerts Colonne il 19 marzo 1882, presso il Théâtre du Châtelet di Parigi, ognuno dei quattro episodi in cui si snoda la Suite era preceduto nel programma di sala da un commento nostalgico di Daudet:
I. — Maintenant surtout que l’Alsace est murée, il me revient de ce pays perdu toutes mes impressions d’autre fois...
Ce que je me rappelle avec bonheur, c’est le village alsacien, le dimanche matin, à l’heure des offices : les rues désertes, les maisons vides, avec quelques vieux qui se chauffent devant leur porte, l’église pleine... et les chants religieux entendus par bouffées au passage...
II. — Et le Cabaret, dans la grande rue, avec ses petits vitraux encadrés de plomb, enguirlandés de houblon et de roses...
Oh ! là ! Schmidt, à boire !
Et la chanson des gardes forestiers se rendant au tir !...
Oh ! la joyeuse vie et les gais compagnons !...
III. — Plus loin encore, c’était toujours le même village, mais avec le grand silence des après-midi d’été... et tout au bout du pays, la longue avenue des tilleuls à l’ombre desquels, la main dans la main, marchait paisiblement un couple amoureux, elle, doucement penchée vers lui et murmurant bien bas : « M’aimeras-tu toujours ?... »
IV. — Aussi le soir, sur la grand’place, que de bruit ! que de mouvement ! tout le monde sur les portes, les
bandes de petits blondins dans la rue et les danses que rythmaient, les chants du pays...
Huit heures !... le bruit des tambours, le chant des clairons... c’était la retraite !... la retraite française !...
Alsace !... Alsace !...
Et quand dans le lointain, s’éteignait le dernier roulement du tambour, les femmes appelaient les enfants sur la route, les vieux rallumaient leurs bonnes grosses pipes et, au son des violons, la danse joyeuse recommençait en rondes plus pressées, en couples plus serrés...
Il primo movimento, Dimanche matin, in Re maggiore, è un Allegretto moderato che ritrae la tranquillità delle strade deserte di un paese alsaziano all’ora della messa. Il tema principale compare in principio come una sorta di richiamo del clarinetto e del flauto, che lo espongono «avec un sentiment de calme et de fraîcheur». La melodia viene poi ripresa e sviluppata da diversi gruppi di strumenti. Nella sezione Andante religioso troviamo un corale, esplicito riferimento al momento di raccoglimento della messa, che poi lascia spazio alla ricomparsa della tranquilla melodia iniziale.
Au Cabaret, il secondo movimento, è un Allegro in Sol maggiore in 3/4. Si tratta di un rustico valzer che trascina gli ascoltatori in una scena di paese vivace e pittoresca, che viene interrotta per un breve momento da una squillante fanfara di caccia.
Il terzo movimento, Sous les tilleuls, è un dolce e languido Adagio sostenuto in Si bemolle maggiore. Una coppia di innamorati passeggia in un viale all’ombra dei tigli scambiandosi promesse d’amore. L’atmosfera viene immediatamente creata dalle note lunghe degli archi con sordina, sopra cui una campana, lontana, suona «Six heures du soir». Si apre poi l’intenso dialogo degli amanti, personificati da violoncello e clarinetto, mentre i violini ricamano un tappeto «mystérieux et expressif» di semicrome.
Dimanche soir, quarto e ultimo movimento, è un Allegro moderato in Re maggiore da eseguire «gaîement at avec une sonorité pleine». In piazza tutti partecipano entusiasti alla festa del paese; si danza e si canta. Compaiono qui alcune melodie folkloriche, tra cui una canzone molto conosciuta in Alsazia: D’r Hans im Schnokeloch (Jean du Trou aux Moustiques). La gioiosa festa viene però interrotta dalla retraite, suonata alle «huit heures du soir» da chiarine e tamburi. Infine, spento il suono dei tamburi, la festa riprende più animata e briosa di prima.
La partitura di Scènes alsaciennes, che mira a richiamare luoghi ed eventi dell’Alsazia piuttosto che a evocare i sentimenti di disperazione della guerra, è stata pubblicata per la prima volta da Georges Hartmann a Parigi nel 1882.
Marica Bottaro, 2019
Jules Massenet - Scènes alsaciennes (Souvenirs)
(Montaud, Saint-Étienne, 12 May 1842 – Paris, 13 August 1912)
Suite for orchestra No.7
Dimanche matin (Allegretto moderato) p.1
Au cabaret (Allegro) p.24
Sous les tilleuls (Adagio sostenuto) p.62
Dimanche soir (Allegro moderato) p.75
Instrumentation: orchestra
Composed: 1881
Premiered: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, 19 March 1882, Concerts Colonne
Published: Georges Hartmann, Paris, 1882
As well as operatic music, Jules Massenet most widely known as the composer of Manon, Werther and Thaïs, wrote seven suites for orchestra which (unjustly) are nowadays not often performed. One of the better known of these is Scènes alsaciennes (Suite n. 7). In this piece, Massenet offers an unfettered outpouring of the nostalgia he feels for the now lost Alsace, a region he had discovered whilst serving in the Garde Nationale during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. French defeat led to the painful loss of Alsace and Lorraine, causing the population to desire revanche, of a cultural kind too; this prompted the French to create a series of products representing the spirit of their nation, in contrast, first and foremost, to the German repertoire.
One of the areas ‘overlooked’ by French musicians over the course of the Nineteenth Century was that of purely instrumental music; concert programmes often referred to the ‘exemplary’ German Romantic tradition, while local composers were concerned with satisfying the needs of the various Parisian theatres with their operatic products. After 1871, the cultural revanche expressed itself in music through the creation of indigenous instrumental pieces: made in France.
One of the ways in which a distinctive French footprint was added to a piece was by referencing a specific region and its intrinsic characteristics. It was largely the landscapes and melodies of the Midi which caught the French composers’ imagination, but there were also homages to Celtic Brittany, the mountains of Auvergne and to regions on the border, such as Alsace.
For his seventh and final suite, Massenet took inspiration from one of the Contes du lundi by the writer Alphonse Daudet, entitled Alsace ! Alsace !. It was published as part of the collection in 1873, but had already appeared on the pages of ‘L’Événement’ on 26 August 1872. When the piece was first performed by Concerts Colonne on 19 March 1882 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, each of the four episodes through which the suite progresses was preceded in the programme by a nostalgic comment from Daudet:
I. — Maintenant surtout que l’Alsace est murée, il me revient de ce pays perdu toutes mes impressions d’autre fois...
Ce que je me rappelle avec bonheur, c’est le village alsacien, le dimanche matin, à l’heure des offices : les rues désertes, les maisons vides, avec quelques vieux qui se chauffent devant leur porte, l’église pleine... et les chants religieux entendus par bouffées au passage...
II. — Et le Cabaret, dans la grande rue, avec ses petits vitraux encadrés de plomb, enguirlandés de houblon et de roses...
Oh ! là ! Schmidt, à boire !
Et la chanson des gardes forestiers se rendant au tir !...
Oh ! la joyeuse vie et les gais compagnons !...
III. — Plus loin encore, c’était toujours le même village, mais avec le grand silence des après-midi d’été... et tout au bout du pays, la longue avenue des tilleuls à l’ombre desquels, la main dans la main, marchait paisiblement un couple amoureux, elle, doucement penchée vers lui et murmurant bien bas : « M’aimeras-tu toujours ?... »
IV. — Aussi le soir, sur la grand’place, que de bruit ! que de mouvement ! tout le monde sur les portes, les
bandes de petits blondins dans la rue et les danses que rythmaient, les chants du pays...
Huit heures !... le bruit des tambours, le chant des clairons... c’était la retraite !... la retraite française !...
Alsace !... Alsace !...
Et quand dans le lointain, s’éteignait le dernier roulement du tambour, les femmes appelaient les enfants sur la route, les vieux rallumaient leurs bonnes grosses pipes et, au son des violons, la danse joyeuse recommençait en rondes plus pressées, en couples plus serrés...
The first movement, Dimanche matin in D major, is an Allegretto moderato which depicts the tranquility of the deserted roads in an Alsacian village at the time of mass. The main theme first appears as a sort of call from the clarinet and the flute, which play it ‘avec un sentiment de calme et de fraîcheur’. The melody is then picked up and developed by different groups of instruments. In the Andante religioso section there is a chorale, a direct reference to the moment of coming together for mass, which then makes way for the initial, tranquil melody to reappear.
Au Cabaret, the second movement, is an Allegro in G major in 3/4. It is a rustic waltz that drags the listener into a lively and picturesque country scene, interrupted briefly by a hunt’s shrill fanfare.
The third movement, Sous les tilleuls, is a sweet and languid Adagio sostenuto in Bb major. A pair of lovers walks down a boulevard in the shade of some lime trees, exchanging promises of love. The atmosphere is immediately created by the long notes played by muted strings over which a far off bell rings ‘Six heures du soir’. There then follows the intense dialogue between the lovers, personified by the cello and clarinet, while the violins embroider a carpet of semiquavers which is ‘mystérieux et expressif’.
The fourth and final movement, Dimanche soir, is an Allegro moderato in D major to be played ‘gaîement at avec une sonorité pleine’. Everyone is joining in with the village festival in the square; there is singing and dancing. Some folkloric melodies appear, including a song which is well known in Alsace: D’r Hans im Schnokeloch (Jean du Trou aux Moustiques). The happy celebration is interrupted, however, by the retraite, which is rung at ‘huit heures du soir’ by clarions and drums. When the sound of the drums finally dies out, the celebration starts up again in a way which is more lively and vivacious than before.
The score for Scènes alsaciennes, which aims at recalling places and events from Alsace rather than stirring up feelings of desperation from the war, was first published by Georges Hartmann in Paris in 1882.
Marica Bottaro, 2019
For performance material please contact Heugel, Paris.