The ''Symphonie espagnole'' in
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 ...
,
Op. 21, is a work for
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
and
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
by
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 182322 April 1892) was a French composer. His most celebrated piece is the '' Symphonie espagnole'', a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra, which remains a popular work in the standard repe ...
.
History
The work was written in 1874 for violinist
Pablo Sarasate
Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include ...
, and premiered in
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. Si ...
on February 7, 1875.
Although called a "Spanish
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...
" (see also
Sinfonia concertante
Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...
), it is considered a
violin concerto by musicians today. The piece has
Spanish motifs throughout, and launched a period when Spanish-themed music came into vogue. (
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...
's opera ''
Carmen'' premiered a month after the ''Symphonie espagnole''.)
The ''Symphonie espagnole'' is one of Lalo's two most often played works, the other being his
Cello Concerto in D minor.
Structure
The piece has five
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
:
A typical performance runs just over half an hour. One of the shorter recordings, conductor
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...
's 1967 recording with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, featuring violinist
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist.
Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...
, runs 32 minutes and 43 seconds. It was common practice until the middle of the 20th century for performances of the work to omit the Intermezzo,
leaving a four-movement work that more closely reflected the traditional structure of a symphony.
Influence on Tchaikovsky
The ''Symphonie espagnole'' had some influence on the genesis of
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
's
Violin Concerto in D major. Other Russian composers like
Glinka had travelled to Spain, starting a vogue among young Russian composers for the bolero and Spanish subjects. Tchaikovsky loved
Mozart's "
Don Giovanni" (set in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
), heard Bizet's "Carmen" during its opening run in 1876, and later played
castanets
Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a simil ...
during a performance of
Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
's "
Capriccio Espagnol" in 1887, as reported by cellist Yulian Poplavsky, who knew Tchaikovsky at the time ("Tchaikovsky Through Others’ Eyes" (Indiana University Press, 1999), pp. 236–237).
In March 1878, Tchaikovsky was staying at
Nadezhda von Meck
Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (russian: Надежда Филаретовна фон Мекк; 13 January 1894) was a Russian businesswoman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic ...
's estate at
Clarens,
Switzerland, while recovering from the breakdown of his disastrous marriage and his subsequent suicide attempt. His favourite pupil (and allegedly his lover), the violinist
Iosif Kotek
Iosif Iosifovich Kotek, also seen as Josef or Yosif (russian: Иосиф Иосифович Котек, ''Iosif Iosifovič Kotek''; 4 January 1885), was a Russian violinist and composer remembered for his association with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. ...
, shortly arrived from
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
with a lot of new music for violin. His collection included the ''Symphonie espagnole'', which he and Tchaikovsky played through to great delight. This gave Tchaikovsky the idea of writing a violin concerto, and he immediately set aside his current work on a piano sonata and started on the concerto on 17 March.
With Kotek's technical help, the concerto was finished by 11 April.
References
External links
*
* Marek Pavelec's performance of the work: Mvt
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{{Authority control
Concertante symphonies
Compositions by Édouard Lalo
Compositions for violin and orchestra
Lalo
1874 compositions
Compositions in D minor