Daniel François Esprit Auber: La Barcarolle – Overture (NXP137)

Sheet music edition. Choose your format from the selection above.

47 pages
Instrumentation: 1+1.2.2.2 - 4.2(cor).3.0 - timp - perc - strings
Edited by Dario Salvi

Daniel François Esprit Auber is, together with Jacques Offenbach, the main exponent of French Comic Opera.

With more than 40 operas at his name, his contribution to the genre is unique. This collection of scores includes some of his early works – for the first time available to the public.

The overtures from his operas are in truncated sonata form: Introduction, Exposition, Recapitulation/Sequence, Coda. The style is always light without any excess of emotion and full of Parisian elegance.

These first works are scored for chamber orchestra, with the addition of trombone, harp and percussion at times. They can well suit professional orchestras as well as proficient amateur ensembles.

In 18th-century Parma, the Count de Fiesque tries to help his half-brother, the composer Fabio, by giving him the poem to a barcarolle which he is to set to music, and thus bring his work to the attention of the Grand Duke. The Overture features music from the Act II Finale, and from two duets: one in Act III between Cafarini and the Count, and the other in Act I between Cafarini and Fabio – whose lyrical middle section provides the central melody.

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