|
Please DONATE to help with maintenance and upkeep of the Wind Repertory Project!
|
Fete Polonaise
Emmanuel Chabrier (trans. Donald Patterson)
|
This article is a stub. If you can help add information to it,
please join the WRP and visit the FAQ (left sidebar) for information. |
General Info
Year: 1887 / 2009
Duration: c. 8:15
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manuscript
Instrumentation
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Fête Polonaise (“Polish Party”) is a thrilling excerpt from Chabrier’s comic opera Le Roi malgré lui (The Reluctant King”). Although it has not found a consistent place among the common operatic and orchestral repertoire, Le Roi malgré lui was greatly admired by Ravel and Stravinsky. Ravel claimed that “the premier of Le Roi malgré lui changed the course of French harmony.”
The excerpt Fête Polonaise is taken from the beginning of Act II. A festive introduction, complete with brass fanfare, is followed by a playful section with abundant dotted rhythms. As the music continues and expands in scope throughout the piece, it is periodically reined back in by lighter woodwind passages. The Fête Polonaise ends with what can be described as an “agitated coda” that sprints towards the conclusion with a flurry of style, excitement, and fanfare truly representative of Chabrier’s style, humor and personality.
As one of the most prolific transcribers and music arrangers of his generation, Marine Band Staff Arranger MSgt. Donald Patterson has made some of the most beloved and important orchestral masterpieces widely available to the world of the wind ensemble. Patterson joined “The President’s Own” Marine Band as a trombonist in 1991, and became part of the music production staff in 2003. His major transcriptions include Respighi’s Feste Romane, Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, and Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto.
-Program note by Scott Van Gundy for the Marcus High School Wind Symphony
Commercial Discography
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Marcus High School (Tx.) Wind Symphony (Amanda Drinkwater, conductor) – 22 December 2012 (2012 Midwest Clinic)
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Cortège Burlesque
- Danse Slave (arr. Odom) (1887/1980/2019)
- España (arr. Barudin) (1883/2018)
- España (arr. Cailliet) (1883/1964)
- España (tr. Nefs) (1883/2022)
- España (tr. Cailliet; rev. Rogers) (1883/1964/1998)
- España Rhapsody (tr. & ed. Oliver) (1883/2016)
- España Rhapsody (arr. Safranek) (1883/19116)
- Fete Polonaise (arr. Patterson)
- Gwendoline
- Habanera (arr. Davis) (1963)
- La Bourrée Fantasque
- Marche Joyeuse (arr. Junkin) (1888/1998)
Resources
None discovered thus far.