The “Barcarolle” from this opera is surely one of the most popular selections from the world of opera. It opens the second act. Outside Giulietta’s palace in Venice, Hoffmann hears the strains of this music sung by his friend Nicklausse and Giulietta as they praise the beauty of the Venetian night. Harp arpeggios suggest the lapping of the Venetian waters in the canal, providing a soothing background to one of the most radiant melodies in French music. It is interesting to remark that Offenbach did not write this melody directly for this opera. He had previously used it in 1864 as a ghost song for an opera-ballet, Die Rheinnixen.
Two dance episodes from The Tales of Hoffmann are also frequently performed outside the opera house. One is the infectious waltz which rises to a dramatic climax in the first act. To this music Hoffmann dances with the mechanical doll, Olympia, with whom he is in love. The second is an enchanting little Minuet, used as entr’acte music between the first and second acts.
A collation of some of Offenbach’s most famous melodies from various operettas can be found in La Gaieté parisienne, an orchestral suite adapted from a score by Manuel Rosenthal to a famous contemporary ballet. This one-act ballet, with choreography by Leonide Massine and scenario by Comte Étienne de Beaumont, was introduced in Monte Carlo by the Ballet Russe in 1938. The setting is a fashionable Parisian restaurant of the 19th century; and the dance offers a colorful picture of Parisian life and mores of that period, climaxed by a stunning Can-Can. Musical episodes are used from Orpheus in the Underworld, La Périchole, La Vie parisienne, and several other Offenbach opéra-bouffes. Beloved Offenbach melodies from various opéra-bouffes were adapted for the score of a Broadway musical produced in 1961, The Happiest Girl in the World.
Ignace Jan Paderewski
Ignace Jan Paderewski, one of the world’s foremost piano virtuosos and one of Poland’s most renowned statesmen, was born in Kurylówka, Podolia, on November 18, 1860. A child prodigy, he was given piano lessons from his third year on. Several patrons arranged to send him to the Warsaw Conservatory, from which he was graduated in 1878. Between 1881 and 1883 he studied composition and orchestration in Berlin, and from 1884 to 1887 piano with Leschetizky in Vienna. Paderewski’s first major success as a pianist came in Vienna in 1889, a concert that was the beginning of a virtuoso career extending for about half a century and carrying him triumphantly to all parts of the world. In 1919 he temporarily withdrew from music to become the first Premier of the Polish Republic, but about a year later he resumed concert work. He made his American debut in New York in 1891, and his last American tour took place in 1939. During the early part of World War II he returned to political activity as President of the Parliament of the Polish Government in Exile. He died in New York on June 29, 1941. By order of President Roosevelt he was given a state burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Paderewski produced many ambitious compositions, some in the style of Polish folk music; these included the opera Manru, a symphony, piano concerto, the Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra and numerous shorter compositions for the piano. Ironically it is not for one of his ambitious works that he is most often recalled as a composer, but through a slight piece: the Minuet in G, or Menuet à l’antique, a graceful, well-mannered composition in an 18th-century style. This is one of the three most popular minuets ever written, the other two being by Mozart and Beethoven. Paderewski originally wrote it for the piano; it is the first of six pieces collectively entitled Humoresques de concert, op. 14. Fritz Kreisler transcribed it for violin and piano; Gaspar Cassadó for cello and piano. It has, of course, been frequently adapted for orchestra.
Gabriel Pierné
Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz, France, on August 16, 1863. He attended the Paris Conservatory for eleven years, a pupil of Massenet and César Franck. He won numerous awards there including the Prix de Rome in 1882. After returning from Rome, he succeeded Franck as organist of the Ste. Clothilde Church in Paris, retaining this post until 1898. From 1903 until 1932 he was, first the assistant, and from 1910 on the principal, conductor of the Colonne Orchestra. He combined his long and fruitful career as conductor with that of composer, producing a vast library of music in virtually every form, including operas, oratorios, ballets, symphonic and chamber music. He achieved renown with the oratorio The Children’s Crusade (La Croisade des enfants), introduced in 1905 and soon after that winner of the City of Paris Award. Another major success came with the ballet, Cydalise and the Satyr in 1923. A conservative composer, Pierné utilized traditional forms with distinction, and filled them with beautiful lyricism, well-sounding harmonies, and a poetic speech. In 1925 Pierné was elected member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. He died in Ploujean, France, on July 17, 1937.
The Entrance of the Little Fauns (Marche des petites faunes) is a whimsical little march for orchestra from the ballet, Cydalise and the Satyr (Cydalise et le chèvre-pied), introduced at the Paris Opéra on January 15, 1923. A saucy tune for muted trumpet is juxtaposed against the wail of piccolos; all the while an incisive rhythm is projected not only by the snare drum and tambourine but also by the violinists tapping the wood of their bows on the strings. Within the ballet this march accompanies the appearance of a group of small fauns, led by their teacher, an old satyr, as they enter school to learn pan pipes.
The March of the Little Lead Soldiers (Marche des petits soldats de plomb) originated as a piano piece in the Album pour mes petits amis, op. 14 (1887), but was subsequently orchestrated by the composer. It opens with a muted trumpet call. A snare drum then establishes the rhythm and sets the stage for the appearance of the main march melody in solo flute.