''Les

Djinn Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

s'' FWV 45 is a

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

for piano and orchestra by

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

Composition

The pianist Caroline Montigny-Rémaury had asked for a short piano and orchestra piece, but she never played the work that Franck composed in the summer of 1884. It was premiered 15 March 1885 by

Louis Diémer Louis Joseph Diémer (14 February 1843 – 21 December 1919) was a French pianist and composer. He was the founder of the Société des Instruments Anciens in the 1890s, and also gave recitals on the harpsichord. His output as a composer was exte ...

as the pianist, in a concert at the

Société Nationale de Musique Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

. The work is inspired by the eponymous poem in ''

Les Orientales ''Les Orientales'' is a collection of poems by Victor Hugo, inspired by the Greek War of Independence. They were first published in January 1829. Of the forty-one poems, thirty-six were written during 1828. They offer a series of highly coloured ...

'' by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

. The latter often inspired Franck (melodies, and his first symphonic poem ''

Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne ', S. 95, is the first of thirteen symphonic poems by Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. It is an orchestral work inspired by Victor Hugo's poem of the same name, published as No. 5 of his collection ''Les Feuilles d'automne ''Les Feui ...

'', composed in 1847–1848, at the same time as the

work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal t ...

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

from the same inspiration). Franck takes up the idea of the mysterious and supernatural forces tearing the nocturnal sky through their passage, and especially the singular rhythm of Hugo's poem, rising from calm into a sonorous storm, before falling back into the silence of the night. The piano part is very virtuosic, and Franck so liked Diémer's interpretation of this difficult score that he wrote his '' Variations symphoniques'' for Diémer, also for piano and orchestra, marking Franck's renewed interest in this instrument.

References

External links

* * , 1995: Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra,

Roberto Benzi Roberto Benzi (born 1937) is a French conductor and former child actor. Early life Roberto Benzi was born on December 12, 1937, in Marseille, France. His parents discovered his musicality when he was very young, and taught him solfège and piano. ...

(conductor), François-Joël Thiollier (piano), animated score
César Franck – ''Les Djinns''
on La Musique classique
FRANCK: ''Variations symphoniques / Les Djinns''
on Qobuz {{DEFAULTSORT:Djinns, Les Compositions by César Franck 1885 compositions Compositions for piano and orchestra Variations Music based on poems Compositions in F-sharp minor Jinn in popular culture