''À la musique'' is a vocal work by

Emmanuel Chabrier Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier (; 18 January 184113 September 1894) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and pianist. His Bourgeoisie, bourgeois family did not approve of a musical career for him, and he studied law in Paris and then worked ...

for solo

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

, women’s chorus and orchestra (or piano). The words are by poet and playwright

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with th ...

. It was written as a ' house-warming' gift for Jules "Tergis" Griset, industrialist and keen cellist (member of the famous Geloso Quartet with Albert Géloso, Pierre Monteux and Bloch), to whom it is dedicated ('to inaugurate the house of a friend'). It was first performed in November 1890 at Griset's house (then Place de Laborde, now 12 Place Henri-Bergson,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) by the Société Chorale d'Amateurs Guillot de Sainbris with Chabrier at the piano. The first public performance was on 23 March 1891 with Mme Rachel-Pascaline Leroux-Ribeyre and the

Colonne Orchestra The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. History While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead ...

conducted by

Édouard Colonne Édouard Juda Colonne (23 July 1838 – 28 March 1910) was a French conductor and violinist, and a champion of the music of Berlioz and other eminent 19th-century composers. Life and career Colonne was born in Bordeaux, the son and grandson ...

at the

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a ...

. It was also performed at the Concerts du Conservatoire on the 22 and 29 January 1893 with Éléonore Blanc (who would create the role of Briséïs four years later) as soloist, conducted by

Paul Taffanel Claude-Paul Taffanel (16 September 1844 – 22 November 1908) was a French flautist, conductor and instructor, regarded as the founder of the French Flute School that dominated much of flute composition and performance during the mid-20th century. ...

. The orchestral manuscript is now in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

. The music (marked ''Andantino, molto con affetto'') is in Chabrier's tenderest, most lyrical vein, entirely free from any suggestion of eccentricity or pseudo-Wagnerian grandiloquence. Myers points out bold touches, such as when the altos, over a pedal f# in the orchestra reiterate for four long 9/8 bars the words 'musique adorable' on the same note, while the soloist and other voices weave round them an expressive melodic figure starting on G natural. He adds "its limpid and mellifluous accents are completely innocent of any of those undercurrents of irony, bravura or humorous exaggeration which have come to be accepted as the hallmarks of his very idiosyncratic style". ''À la musique'' was a favourite piece of

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

and was chosen by Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht to open the concert he conducted to inaugurate the new

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

on 2 April 1913. Present at the rehearsal for this concert, Debussy asked the conductor to play it again – just for the pleasure of hearing it.In his book ''Comment on ne doit pas interpréter Carmen, Faust et Pelléas'', (Paris, Heugel, 1933), Inghelbrecht closes his commentary by quoting a verse from ''À la musique''. ''À la musique'' is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 B flat clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in F, 3 trombones; timpani, triangle; 2 harps, violins, violas, cellos and double basses.

References

Delage R. ''Emmanuel Chabrier.'' Paris, Fayard, 1999.
Myers R. ''Chabrier and his circle.'' London, J M Dent & Sons Ltd, 1969. {{DEFAULTSORT:A La Musique Compositions by Emmanuel Chabrier 1890 compositions Choral compositions