5th piano concerto (Saint-Saëns)
The 5th Piano Concerto in F major , op. 103 , also known as the Egyptian Concerto ( L'Égyptien ), is a work for piano and orchestra by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns .
Emergence
The fifth piano concerto was Saint-Saëns' last contribution to the genre in 1896, over twenty years after the previous fourth piano concerto . The nickname "Egyptian Concert" was given to the work because it was written in Luxor during a stay in Egypt . Saint-Saëns, who was constantly traveling until his later years, processed primarily Egyptian, but also broader travel impressions. In fact, this work not only contains oriental sounds inspired by Egypt, but also, especially in the second movement, Far Eastern sounds. Saint-Saëns himself wrote about the concert: “A kind of trip to the Orient, which in the episode in F sharp major even penetrates the Far East. The passage in G major is a Nubian love song that I heard sailors sing on the Nile when I was sailing down the river on a Dahabieh ”. The sound apparatus was therefore u. a. expanded to include the piccolo and the tam-tam. This late work is characterized by a less romantic soundscape than the composer's previous piano concertos , primarily for the programmatic reasons mentioned .
The work is dedicated to Louis Diémer , who later also created an arrangement for two pianos.
To the music
occupation
Solo piano , 2 flutes , piccolo , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , kettledrum , tam-tam and strings
1st movement: Allegro animato
The main movement of the concert is designed in the most conventional and European way in terms of its sound world. The opening Allegro begins after the woodwind has spread a carpet of sound with the exposition and the main vocal theme in the piano. A passage introduced by the horns then accelerates the action. The result is an ever-growing dynamic, which is only slowed down by a calming thought on the part of the piano, which leads to the deliberate and unclear articulated second theme. This theme has its origins in an Egyptian song. A virtuoso cadenza-like passage opens up the implementation , soon reappearing the accelerating horn passage in and again brings a growing momentum in expression, tempo and volume with it. The heavily modified recapitulation puts a greater focus on the second theme. The movement fades away gently on the piano .
2nd movement: Andante - Allegretto tranquillo
The second movement brings a strongly programmatic trait to the work. This movement is composed entirely in an oriental manner and therefore appears very exotic and unfamiliar in its sound world. It has a strong rhapsodic design and strings different sound images together. It begins with a tutti strike of the entire orchestra, followed by a rhythmic sound basis of the strings. This is followed by a virtuoso introduction of the piano, which culminates in a powerful descending Arabic scale . The utmost technical skill is required of the pianist. The main oriental theme follows , presented by the piano. Another thought even leads into the Far Eastern world of sound, with a pentatonic theme in F sharp major. The piano now presents, initially solo, a Nubian love song in swaying rhythm in G major. A dance-like, Arabic theme that is charmingly mixed with the sound world of European dances follows this. Again the character changes and a thought of the piano, supported by the hoopla , creates an Asian image. A lightning-fast change of scene is brought about by a virtuoso double-stroke theme from the solo piano in an oriental style. The movement fades away with soft tremolos from the strings.
3rd movement: Molto allegro
The virtuoso third movement begins with a dance theme from the solo piano, which the orchestra will soon take up. A second thought is also of a dance-like and joking character, but leads to an outbreak of tutti in a minor key. On the pounding chords of the piano, short and concise interjections from the woodwinds sound. According to Saint-Saëns, the constant basic rhythm of the movement represents the monotonous working ship engines of the steamers on the Nile. A brief, joyful turn ends the short movement.
effect
The piano concerto was premiered in Paris on May 6, 1896 . The concert was held in honor of Saint-Saëns at the Conservatory, where he had first performed in public fifty years earlier, at the age of eleven. The premiere, in which the elderly composer himself sat at the piano, was another great success for Saint-Saëns. The ingenuity and the sometimes somewhat unusual exotic soundscape were particularly praised. Due to its programmatic, partly strongly tonal character, the concert enjoys considerable popularity.
Web links
- Piano Concerto No.5, Op.103 (Saint-Saëns, Camille) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Summary of Saint-Saëns' piano concertos ( Memento from May 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quoted from: Michael Stegemann: Camille Saint-Saëns with self-testimonies and photo documents. Rowohlt, 1988