''Sept Papillons'' (French for "Seven Butterflies") is a piece for solo

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The piece was commissioned by the Rudolf Steiner Foundation and was premiered on 10 September 2000 by

Anssi Karttunen Anssi Karttunen (born 1960) is a Finnish cellist. Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to living composers and improvisation. He has performed with many orchestras in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the Philharmonia, BBC ...

, to whom the piece is dedicated.

Background and composition

''Sept Papillons'' was the first piece that Saariaho wrote after completing her opera ''

L'Amour de loin ' (''Love from Afar'') is an opera in five acts with music by Kaija Saariaho and a French-language libretto by Amin Maalouf. The opera received its world premiere performance on 15 August 2000 at the Salzburg Festival. Saariaho, living in Paris si ...

''. She stated that in writing it, she wanted to depart from the musical world of ''L'Amour de loin'' to move "to a metaphor of the ephemeral: butterfly". As the title suggests, the piece is made up of seven miniatures, simply entitled "Papillon I", "Papillon II", and so on.Saariaho, Kaija. ''Sept Papillons''. 2000. London: Chester Music, 2000. The piece lasts about 10 minutes in total. ''Sept Papillons'' was commissioned by the Rudolf Steiner Foundation, and was premiered by Anssi Karttunen in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, on 10 September 2000. Saariaho also dedicated the piece to Karttunen, with whom she became friends after they both moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in the early 1980s.

Reception

The piece has been praised for its use of extended techniques for the cello, such as harmonics, variable bow pressure, and sul ponticello. Its use of melody has also been discussed in an article by James Donaldson. It has been celebrated as one of Saariaho's best works.

References

{{Portal bar, Classical music, Music Compositions by Kaija Saariaho 2000 compositions Contemporary classical compositions Solo cello pieces Compositions that use extended techniques