Bastille Day Programme
French Composers and Music
Our meeting on the 14th July coincided with Bastille Day, the French National Day – we presented a programme of French music. We started with the National Anthem:
La Marseillaise
by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
A French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Le Concert De Paris - Bastille Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2BhWcSBJtI
Boléro
by Maurice Ravel
A one-movement orchestral piece originally composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, the piece, which premiered in 1928, is Ravel's most
famous composition. Performed by André Rieu and his orchestra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwLABSm0yYc
Rêverie
by Claude Debussy
Debussy's early piano work, and one of his most famous, is given a deliberate and spacious performance by Steinway artist Lang Lang in Paris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouYT5OEPfRI
The Carnival of the Animals
by Camille Saint-Saëns
Written for a 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obzbLu3sLyM
Orpheus in the Underworld Overture
by Jacques Offenbach
A German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss Jr. Can Can anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEnW5_GTooI
Carmen Suite No. 1
by Georges Bizet
A composer of the Romantic era, best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire. Singapore National Youth Orchestra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh7dxdlTPU8
Dolly Suite for piano four hands - Lucas & Arthur Jussen
by Gabriel Fauré
One of the foremost French composers of his generation, his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs 'Après un rêve' and 'Clair de lune'
The Dolly Suite is a collection of pieces to mark the birthdays and other events in the life of the daughter of the composer's friend, Emma Bardac.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KywhPwmS5Gg
Finally – not French but we loved it ....
Cavalleria Rusticana -- Italian for 'rustic chivalry'
by Pietro Mascagni
A prolific Italian composer who completed more than 15 operas in his 82 years. The most memorable of these is Cavalleria Rusticana (an opera in one act), about a tempestuous love story set in a small Sicilian town.
Played on the wonderful 2018 Zych Pipe Organ of the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy,
Krakow, Poland, a modern basilica built between 1999-2002.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw9IoA8BB24