The Suite for Cello and Piano, Op. 16, was written by

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

in 1866. This work is considered the launching point of the composer's career.

Structure

The piece is written in the form of a

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite' ...

with five movements: # Prélude:

Moderato Moderato may refer to: * ''Moderato'', an Italian musical term; see Glossary of music terminology#M * Moderato Wisintainer (1902-1986), Brazilian footballer generally known as Moderato See also * ''Moderato Cantabile ''Moderato Cantabile'' is ...

assai # Sérénade: Andantino # Scherzo:

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

grazioso # Romance: Adagio #Finale: Allegro con brio The end of the finale contains a recapitulation of the prelude, typical of a

serenade In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...

. In fact, the work bears a close resemblance to

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

's String Serenade.

Orchestrated version

Saint-Saëns' interest in this piece was revived in 1919. Cellist Joseph Hollmann, for whom the Second Cello Concerto was written, encouraged Saint-Saëns to orchestrate this suite of five pieces. However, the composer felt that the Scherzo and Finale were too pianistic to be orchestrated, and eventually came to a decision to replace the two movements with a Gavotte and a Tarantelle, respectively. The Gavotte, originally written in G minor, was transposed into

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

upon orchestration. The Romance already existed in orchestrated form because the composer once took the movement from the original suite and transcribed it for horn, for Henri Chaussier, though he modified it once again with different orchestration for the suite.Saint-Saëns, Camille, ''The Complete Shorter Works for Cello and Piano'' ed. Isserlis. An introduction by Sabina Teller Ratner, 2. The orchestrated version was published by ''J. Hamelle'' in 1920.

Recordings

Cello and Piano *Roger Drinkall (cello) and Dian Baker (piano) *

Christoph Henkel Christoph Henkel (born 11 February 1958) is a London-based German billionaire businessman. As of September 2021, his net worth is estimated at US$1.7 billion. Early life Christoph Henkel was born on 11 February 1958 in Düsseldorf, West German ...

(cello) and Hüseyin Sermet (piano) *

Maria Kliegel Maria Kliegel (born 14 November 1952) is a German cellist. Professional career Kliegel was born in Dillenburg, Hesse. She studied under Janos Starker starting at the age of 19. She won first prize at the American College Competition, First Germ ...

(cello) and

François-Joël Thiollier François-Joël Thiollier (born 1943) is an internationally recognized French-American classical pianist. Thiollier was born in Paris in 1943, with both French and American citizenship. He gave his first concert in New York City at the age of 5, ...

(piano) *

Luigi Piovano Luigi Piovano is an Italian cellist and conductor. He is Principal Cellist of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, guest Principal Cellist of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and guest principal cellist of the Seoul Philharmon ...

(cello) and Luisa Prayer (piano) *Lucia Swarts (cello) and

Leo van Doeselaar Leo van Doeselaar (born 1954, Goes) is a Dutch classical organist and conductor. Leo van Doeselaar studied the organ (with Albert de Klerk) and piano (with Jan Wijn) at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory. He was awarded by the Prix d'Excelle ...

(piano) Cello and Orchestra * Steven Isserlis (cello) and Christoph Eschenbach conducting the NDR Symphony Orchestra) *

(cello) and Jean-François Monnard conducting the Bournemouth Sinfonietta * Mischa Maisky (cello) and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra * Christine Walevska (cello) and Eliahu Inbal conducting the Orchestra National de Monte-Carlo) * Johannes Moser (cello) and

Fabrice Bollon Fabrice Bollon (born Paris, 1965) is a French conductor and composer. Biography Bollon studied with Michael Gielen and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Paris and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He subsequently continued his studies with Georges Prêtre an ...

conducting the

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (German: ''Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR'') was a German radio orchestra based in Stuttgart in Germany. History The ensemble was founded in 1945 by American occupation authorities as the orchest ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suite for cello and piano Suites (music) Compositions for cello and piano Chamber music by Camille Saint-Saëns 1866 compositions