Description
Fetes Galantes was arranged for clarinet and piano by composer Joshua Mietz. Reynoldo Hahn (1874-1947) was the youngest of twelve children. His mother was a citizen of Venezuela and his father a citizen of Germany. His parents belonged to the Venezuelan aristocracy preceding a political unrest that his family relocated to Paris. In 1884, he entered the Paris Conservatory where he studied composition with Jules Massenet. Massenet’s students include: Gustave Charpentier, Gabriel Pierné, and Maurice Ravel.
A favorite composer of vocalists, Hahn wrote at least 149 works for solo voice and
piano. Fêtes Galantes is a French art song portraying the atmosphere of life in Paris before the turn of the 21st century. Paul Verlaine wrote the poetry and the work is dedicated to Hahn’s Paris Conservatory classmate Charles-Gaston Levadé. Typical to Hahn’s writing, the piano part is challenging in its own right and not merely an accompaniment of the vocal line.
Fêtes Galantes is arranged using the original piano part and a transcribed clarinet/voice part. This piece is always a crowd pleaser and will work well for students needing a shorter composition for contest, professionals desiring a charming encore piece, or recital shared with vocalists.
Score and Parts Included: Clarinet part in Bb and A and Piano
