''Les Soirées de Nazelles'', FP 84, is a set of variations for piano written by the French composer

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kno ...

. During the evenings, the composer used to sit at the piano and improvise "portraits" of his friends, all based on a given

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 ...

. The work was begun in 1930, and completed at

Noizay Noizay () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department The following is a list of the 272 communes of the Indre-et-Loire department of France. The commune ...

on October 1, 1936.Partition

Éditions Durand Éditions Durand are a music publishing company of French origin, among the most important in the field of classical music, which includes three previously independent publishers: * Éditions Durand — the oldest of the three companies — estab ...

Paris, France At the beginning of the score, it reads: The composition is dedicated "to the memory of my aunt LIÉNARD, in memory of Nazelles".''à la mémoire de ma tante LIÉNARD, en souvenir de Nazelles'' The score was published by Éditions Durand Salabert-Eschig.

Structure

''Les Soirées de Nazelles'' are composed of eight variations and a cadence, framed by a prelude (''Preamble'') and a finale. It takes about 20 minutes to perform. A complete recording by Tom Pascale lists the titles,

tempo markings 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 ...

and durations as follows:

References

External links

Francis Poulenc - Les Soirées de Nazelles
by Patrick Jankowski (18 November 2014)
''Les soirées de Nazelles'', FP 84 (Poulenc, Francis)
on IMSLP
Poulenc - ''Soirées de Nazelles''
on Pianopedia
Orazio Sciortino, piano. F. Poulenc- Les Soirées de Nazelles
on YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soirees de Nazelles Compositions by Francis Poulenc 1936 compositions Compositions for solo piano Variations