Erik Satie arr. Peter Lawson
JE TE VEUX and LA DIVA for orchestra
Goodmusic Concert Classics GMCL236
Catalogue Number: GMCL236
Difficulty level: D What's this?
ISMN: 9790222334229
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Orchestration: 2 Flutes (2nd db.Piccolo), 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in Bb, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns in F, 2 Trumpets in Bb, 3 Trombones, Tuba
Timpani, Percussion [2 players: Triangle, Tambourine, Snare Drum, Glockenspiel], Harp (or Keyboard)
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Soprano or Mezzo-Soprano [optional]
These orchestrations of two of Erik Satie’s best-loved cabaret songs are designed as either purely orchestral novelty numbers or as orchestral accompaniments to a singer.
Je te Veux was thought to be written as early as 1897, was published in 1902 and first performed in Paris in1903 at La Scala cabaret theatre, by the music-hall diva Paulette Darty. It is a romantic waltz with impassioned lyrics by Henry Pacory: the title translates as 'I want you'. This phrase comes at the end of the refrain, heard at the beginning and the end and between the two verses, which are in the contrasting dominant key. The end of the second verse calls for the two lovers to be joined together and to exchange their souls.
La Diva de "l'Empire" was also written for Paulette Darty in 1904, adapting a piano piece called Strand Walk that Satie had written earlier that year, in the then popular style of a cakewalk. He asked the comedians Dominique Bonnaud and Numa Bles to write slightly risque lyrics to fit it. The 'Empire' in question was the Empire Music-Hall, Leicester Square, London, which, in those days, had a rather salacious reputation for attracting somewhat chic 'ladies of the night' in its indoor walkways. This scenario would be an amusing backdrop to those in the know in the audiences to whom Darty would have performed. In the song, the Diva, dressed like a young lady in her large Greenaway hat, has bouquets of flowers flung at her from her admiring snobs in waistcoats and dandies of Piccadilly. Satie's music is charming and delightful, always avoiding the mere commonplace - a memorable, entertaining little gem! Peter Lawson
A PACK includes a full score plus a full set of wind, brass and percussion parts plus strings 4/4/3/4/2
Duration 6½ (4 + 2½) minutes
Timpani, Percussion [2 players: Triangle, Tambourine, Snare Drum, Glockenspiel], Harp (or Keyboard)
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Bass)
Soprano or Mezzo-Soprano [optional]
These orchestrations of two of Erik Satie’s best-loved cabaret songs are designed as either purely orchestral novelty numbers or as orchestral accompaniments to a singer.
Je te Veux was thought to be written as early as 1897, was published in 1902 and first performed in Paris in1903 at La Scala cabaret theatre, by the music-hall diva Paulette Darty. It is a romantic waltz with impassioned lyrics by Henry Pacory: the title translates as 'I want you'. This phrase comes at the end of the refrain, heard at the beginning and the end and between the two verses, which are in the contrasting dominant key. The end of the second verse calls for the two lovers to be joined together and to exchange their souls.
La Diva de "l'Empire" was also written for Paulette Darty in 1904, adapting a piano piece called Strand Walk that Satie had written earlier that year, in the then popular style of a cakewalk. He asked the comedians Dominique Bonnaud and Numa Bles to write slightly risque lyrics to fit it. The 'Empire' in question was the Empire Music-Hall, Leicester Square, London, which, in those days, had a rather salacious reputation for attracting somewhat chic 'ladies of the night' in its indoor walkways. This scenario would be an amusing backdrop to those in the know in the audiences to whom Darty would have performed. In the song, the Diva, dressed like a young lady in her large Greenaway hat, has bouquets of flowers flung at her from her admiring snobs in waistcoats and dandies of Piccadilly. Satie's music is charming and delightful, always avoiding the mere commonplace - a memorable, entertaining little gem! Peter Lawson
A PACK includes a full score plus a full set of wind, brass and percussion parts plus strings 4/4/3/4/2
Duration 6½ (4 + 2½) minutes