''Le Chant des chemins de fer'' (The Song of the Railways) is a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

for

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

solo, choir and orchestra composed in June 1846 on lyrics by

Jules Janin Jules Gabriel Janin (16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic. Life and career Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gra ...

and premiered June 14 1846 for the inauguration of the gare de Lille.

Circumstances of the composition

The work was commissioned by the city of Lille. According to his correspondence, Berlioz composed it in a hurry in three nights, interrupting the writing of '' La Damnation de Faust''. Berlioz, who travelled on the inaugural train, spent eight days in Lille and conducted ''Le Chant des chemins de fer'' and at the same time the finale of his ''

Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale ''Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale'' (English: ''Grand Funeral and Triumphal Symphony''), Op. 15, is the fourth and last symphony by the French composer Hector Berlioz, first performed on 28 July 1840 in Paris. It is one of the earliest ...

'' leading a military orchestra of 150 wind instrumentalists and singers from the

Conservatoire de Lille The Conservatoire de Lille is a music school in Lille, France. Founded in 1803, it was originally set out as a music conservatory, later branching out into theatre and dance in the second half of the 20th century. The conservatory took the place ...

. Berlioz had asked that the final chord be punctuated by a cannonade that could not take place.

Lyrics

The text is by

, a friend of Berlioz and

Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

. Berlioz supposedly had been enthusiastic at that time about Saint-Simonianism.

Music

The music is nervous and vigorous, the orchestration bouncing. The cantata also includes a prayer, '. The whole may sound grandiloquent and heavy. The interpretation of the three verses and chorus takes about 9 minutes.

Legacy

The work was incorporated with other compositions under Opus 19 No. 3,

Album leaf ''Album leaf'' is the title of numerous minor compositions by a wide variety of classical composers. It also appears in the French version, ''Feuille d'album'' or ''Feuillet d'album''; the German version ''Albumblatt'' (pl. ''Albumblätter''); ...

. It is rarely played. One of the performances is that of the symphony orchestra of the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

with the choirs of the Oratory on the occasion of a Congress of the "Association internationale du congrès des chemins de fer" (AICCF) in 1966.Notice in English
/ref> The work was performed for the opening ceremony of Lille 2004 " European Capital of Culture".

References

External links

Chant des chemins de fer
on IMSLP
Jean Dupouy sings ''Le Chant des Chemins de Fer''
YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Chant des chemins de fer Cantatas 1846 cantatas Compositions by Hector Berlioz