"Le chemin de fer" (French for "the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

" or "the railroad"), Op. 27, is a programmatic

étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapid ...

for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

composed by Charles-Valentin Alkan in 1844, frequently cited as the first musical representation of a railway. It is a '' perpetuum mobile'' composition at an extremely fast

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

, in D minor, and performance at tempo lasts approximately five minutes.

Composition

The composition is marked ''vivacissimamente'' (extremely brisk, from ''

vivace In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

''), 112

half note ''Half Note'' is a live album by saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1974 and first released on the SteepleChase label in 1985.

s per minute. The first

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

sixteenth note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver ( British) is a note played for half the du ...

s accompanied by a repetitive ostinato bass in

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...

s, illustrating the fleeting steam locomotive. The second is a more lightweight melody that appears first in the

submediant In music, the submediant is the sixth degree () of a diatonic scale. The submediant ("lower mediant") is named thus because it is halfway between tonic and subdominant ("lower dominant") or because its position below the tonic is symmetrical to ...

major,

B-flat major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: : Many transposing ins ...

, then in C major, still comprising just sixteenth notes, which depicts the happy journey of the passengers. The only respite from the torrent comes at the coda, in which the note durations lengthen and the piece comes to a close, portraying the train pulling into a station. The piece's length, in printing (506

measure Measure may refer to: * Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event Law * Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States * Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England * Mea ...

s), not performance (5 minutes), is humorously referred to as describing a very long trip.

Reception

The most recurrent criticism of the étude disparages its banal programmatic nature, and it has been rated very poorly compared with Alkan's other compositions. One writer dismisses it as "amusing", without technical innovations. Although Alkan demanded strict adherence to the

metronome A metronome, from ancient Greek μέτρον (''métron'', "measure") and νομός (nomós, "custom", "melody") is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a regular interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats pe ...

, one analysis of the extreme tempo showed that it is nearly impossible to play at the correct speed, and that at that speed the notes become impossible to distinguish. One published edition agrees with this statement, suggesting that Alkan's metronomic indications do not need to be taken too literally, and most analyses agree, one proposing that there is a printing error and it should be played half as fast (112

quarter note A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem ...

s per minute). The piece's historical accuracy has also been questioned, given that it was composed in 1844, a period in

railway history The history of rail transport began in the BCE times. It can be divided into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of track material and motive power used. Ancient systems The Post Track, a prehistoric causeway in the va ...

when

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

s seldom travelled faster than 19 mph (30 km/h). Despite these denigrations, its joyful melody has been celebrated as a forerunner to

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

's famous orchestral work, ''

Pacific 231 ''Pacific 231'' is an orchestral work by Arthur Honegger, written in 1923. It is one of his most frequently performed works. Description The popular interpretation of the piece is that it depicts a steam locomotive, one that is supported by th ...

'', which also represents a locomotive.

Music

References

External links

* * ,

Etsuko Hirose « Hirose, Etsuko, 1979- »
on ''lccn.loc.gov'' (accessdate=13 December 2018) is a Japanese classica ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemin de fer Études by Charles-Valentin Alkan 1844 compositions Compositions in D minor Works about rail transport