La Sulamite
Encyclopedia
La Sulamite is a scène lyrique by Emmanuel Chabrier
to words by Jean Richepin
for solo voice, women's chorus and orchestra. The text of La Sulamite is based on extracts from The Song of Songs.
with the mezzo
soloist Mme Marie-Helene Brunet Lafleur (the second wife of Lamoureux), to whom the work is dedicated. A re-orchestrated version made by the composer in 1890 (with a similar dedication) was first performed by the same artists on 21 February 1892; that manuscript is now in The Pierpoint Morgan Library.
Chabrier had great difficulty in finding a convincing ending to the piece, even trying to get Lamoureux to help him.
In the end though he was pleased with this work; in a letter to his publishers Enoch et Costallat he wrote "I am very attached to this work. It is difficult but will be less so in ten or twenty years from now".
According to Myers, the work has a glowing intensity and sensuous aura, and the writing for voices and instruments is free and uninhibited, enlivened by harmonic subtleties and bold and original modulations.
Debussy confided to the critic and composer Gustave Samazeuilh that he was influenced by La Sulamite when writing La damoiselle élue. Ravel was also an enthusiast, introducing the work to his friend Ricardo Viñes
in 1897.
La Sulamite is scored for a large orchestra of piccolo, 2 flutes, oboe, cor anglais, 2 B flat clarinets, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons; 2 horns in F, 2 horns in E flat, 2 pistons in C, 2 trumpets in F, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, antique cymbals in E flat, triangle, drum, bass drum, cymbals; 2 harps, violins, violas, cellos and double basses.
The work lasts around 17 minutes.
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well...
to words by Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin , French poet, novelist and dramatist, the son of an army doctor, was born at Médéa, French Algeria.At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a...
for solo voice, women's chorus and orchestra. The text of La Sulamite is based on extracts from The Song of Songs.
Background
La Sulamite was first performed on 15 March 1885 at the Concerts Lamoureux, conducted by Charles LamoureuxCharles Lamoureux
Charles Lamoureux was a French conductor and violinist.He was born in Bordeaux, where his father owned a café. He studied the violin with Narcisse Girard at the Paris Conservatoire, taking a premier prix in 1854. He was subsequently engaged as a violinist at the Opéra and later joined the Société...
with the mezzo
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
soloist Mme Marie-Helene Brunet Lafleur (the second wife of Lamoureux), to whom the work is dedicated. A re-orchestrated version made by the composer in 1890 (with a similar dedication) was first performed by the same artists on 21 February 1892; that manuscript is now in The Pierpoint Morgan Library.
Chabrier had great difficulty in finding a convincing ending to the piece, even trying to get Lamoureux to help him.
In the end though he was pleased with this work; in a letter to his publishers Enoch et Costallat he wrote "I am very attached to this work. It is difficult but will be less so in ten or twenty years from now".
According to Myers, the work has a glowing intensity and sensuous aura, and the writing for voices and instruments is free and uninhibited, enlivened by harmonic subtleties and bold and original modulations.
Debussy confided to the critic and composer Gustave Samazeuilh that he was influenced by La Sulamite when writing La damoiselle élue. Ravel was also an enthusiast, introducing the work to his friend Ricardo Viñes
Ricardo Viñes
Ricardo Viñes was a Spanish pianist. He first publicly performed many important works by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Manuel de Falla, Déodat de Séverac and Isaac Albéniz. He was also the piano teacher of composer Francis Poulenc and pianist Léo-Pol Morin.He was born in Lleida,...
in 1897.
The work
Within an oriental setting in high-walled gardens, the Sulamite, at first sad because of the absence of her loved one, soon feels his approach, calls him, sees him running and collapses finally in his arms in the longed-for ecstasy, among the delighted congratulations of her companions, happy with her good fortune.La Sulamite is scored for a large orchestra of piccolo, 2 flutes, oboe, cor anglais, 2 B flat clarinets, bass clarinet, 4 bassoons; 2 horns in F, 2 horns in E flat, 2 pistons in C, 2 trumpets in F, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, antique cymbals in E flat, triangle, drum, bass drum, cymbals; 2 harps, violins, violas, cellos and double basses.
The work lasts around 17 minutes.