The Symphony on a French Mountain Air (french: Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français ), Op. 25, is written in 1886 by

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...

. As indicated by the title, d'Indy took the principal

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 ...

from a

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

he heard at Périer overlooking the

Cévennes , etymology= , photo=Point Sublime-Gorges du Tarn-Frankreich.jpg , photo_caption=The Gorges du Tarn , country= France , subdivision2= , subdivision2_type=Départements , parent= Massif Central , area_km2= , length_km= , length_orient ...

mountains (hence the work's alternative name, ''Symphonie cévenole''). Originally conceived as a fantaisie for piano and orchestra, the symphony is unusual in that it is scored for a prominent (but never dominant)

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

part together with

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 ...

, and has acquired the label sinfonia concertante from some critics. It consists of three

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 ...

and lasts just under half an hour: *''Assez

lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

- Modérément animé'' *''Assez modéré, mais sans lenteur'' *''Animé'' The symphony begins with an evocative melody played first by a

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

. The main themes of subsequent movements are based on this melody, and as the symphony progresses each subsequent variation becomes more and more like the original version. The work was dedicated to

Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène Marie-Léontine Bordes-Pène (Léontine-Marie Pène) was a notable French pianist, who premiered major works by César Franck, Vincent d'Indy and others. She married a brother of the composer Charles Bordes, and was known by the surname Bordes-Pè ...

, who was the soloist at the premiere in Paris on March 20, 1887.

Eric Blom Eric Walter Blom (20 August 188811 April 1959) was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, music critic and writer. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1954). Biogr ...

, ed.,

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the History of music, ...

, 5th ed, 1954, Vol. I, p. 814

References

External links

Program notes by Paul Serotsky
Compositions by Vincent d'Indy Romantic symphonies 1886 compositions Compositions for piano and orchestra

Indy Indy may refer to: Computing and technology *Indy (software), used for Internet access to music *Internet Direct, or "Indy", a software library *SGI Indy, a computer workstation Periodicals *''The Indy'', shorthand for newspapers that include " ...

{{symphony-stub

References

Further reading

External links