I never get tired of listening to Bizet's two suites; in my opinion, they are phenomenal. Unfortunately, they are never talked about enough; the orchestration is beautiful, very imaginative and refined, and the saxophone interventions, which were a novelty at the time, are amazing.
What I don't understand is whether the second theme of the Farandole is the same as Yankee Doodle (which derives from a European melody that, moreover, various states claim for themselves); in my opinion it is, but I can't find any "official" confirmation anywhere and there is nothing on Wiki; does anyone know anything about it? The first theme is a popular theme that Lully had already used in a march, but the second one?
T
Tiger
Member
Reply 2 by Tiger
Posts
447
Ettore wrote:
I never get tired of listening to Bizet's two suites; in my opinion, they are phenomenal, unfortunately they are never talked about enough, the orchestration is beautiful, very imaginative and refined, the saxophone interventions, a novelty at the time, are amazing.
Bizet is a great one; I don't know if you have ever had the chance to listen to the Symphony in C major, composed at age 16 but never made public by the author and rediscovered in 1933: it is a piece of extraordinary invention, the work of a little genius in the making
Think that it is part of the soundtrack of some films such as La femme en bleu directed in 1973 by Michel Deville (where Schubert's Quartet in D minor D 810 also resonates).
What I don't understand is whether the second theme of the Farandole is the same as Yankee Doodle
It could even be. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Bizet had indeed drawn inspiration from it. Folk melodies often make incredibly long journeys.
A very famous and important case is that of the Posthorn theme in Mahler's Third, which is identical to a Spanish melody already used by Glinka in the Jota aragonesa and by Liszt in the Spanish Rhapsody. Even Busoni noticed it, and he did not fail to remark on it with amused curiosity.
