The Sufferings of the Queen of France

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The sufferings of the Queen of France (The suffering of the Queen of France) , also known under the titles La Mort de Marie-Antoinette and Le tableau Marie-Antoinette , is a piano cycle of the Bohemian composer and pianist Johann Ladislaus Dussek (1760-1812) , which describes the ordeal and apotheosis of the French Queen Marie Antoinette in ten programmatic individual pieces .

background

Dussek first came to Paris at the end of 1786 , where he was enthusiastically celebrated as a piano virtuoso after a short time. The music-loving French Queen Marie Antoinette then became his patroness. It is said that she tried in vain to prevent Dussek from visiting his brother in Milan because she was afraid of losing him as a court musician. Dussek returned to Paris in 1788, but already left for London at the beginning of the following year, where he was able to build on his previous successes as a concert pianist and piano teacher of the nobility. On August 31, 1792 he married Sophia Corri (1775–1831), daughter of the music publisher Domenico Corri (1755–1824), in whose business Dussek soon became a partner.

After Marie Antoinette had been executed in Paris on October 16, 1793 during the French Revolution , Dussek composed his piano cycle The Sufferings of the Queen of France , which was published by Corri, Dussek, & Co. on December 13, 1793 in The Times of London announced as Dusíks op.23:

The Suffering of the Queen of France, A Musical Composition Expressing the feeling of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette During her Imprisonment, Trial, & c. The Music adapted for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord. Composed by JL Dussek.

The work

construction

The cycle consists of the following ten individual numbers:

  • No. 1, The Queen's Imprisonment (Largo, C minor , 4/4)
  • No. 2, She reflects on her former Greatness , (Maestosamente, E flat major , 4/4)
  • No. 3, They separate her from her Children , ( Agitato assai, C minor , 2/2)
  • No. 4, They pronounce the Sentence of Death , (Allegro con furia, E flat major , 3/4)
  • No. 5, Her Resignation to her Fate , (Adagio innocente, E flat major , 3/4)
  • No. 6, The Situation and Reflections the Night before her Execution , (Andante agitato , A flat major / D minor , 3/4)
  • No. 7, March , (Lento, D minor , 4/4)
  • No. 8, The savage Tumult of the Rabble , (Presto furioso, B flat major , 3/4)
  • No. 9, The Queen's Invocation to the Almighty just before her Death , (Molto adagio, E major , 3/4)
  • No. 10, The Apotheosis , (Allegro maestoso, C major , 4/4)

Characteristic

The reference to the 14 Stations of the Cross is unmistakable . In terms of key, Dussek remains in the numbers 1 to 8 in the ♭ keys, before he then passes through the distant E major in number 9 to the radiant C major . In addition to the headings of the individual pieces, Dussek added other programmatic explanations, for example: B. The Farewell of her Childern [!] In No. 3, or The Guards come to conduct her to the place of Execution in No. 6. The musical illustration of the heading The Guillotine drops in No. 9: Ein is particularly original Glissando downwards over three octaves from c 3 to c 0 .

expenditure

  • Corri, Dussek & Co., London 1793
  • Ignaz Pleyel, Paris undated (approx. 1796/97)
  • A. Kuntze, Amsterdam undated (approx. 1796/99)
  • C. Müller, Stockholm (?) No year (approx. 1819/23)
  • Igor Kipnis (ed.), Alfred Publishing Co., New York 1975

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