Sélamlik

From Wind Repertory Project
Florent Schmitt

Florent Schmitt (arr. Meyer)


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Subtitle: Turkish Dance for Harmonie

This work bears the designation Opus 48, No. 1.


General Info

Year: 1906
Duration: c. 4:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Unknown
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Unknown


Instrumentation

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Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

One of the more intriguing pieces is Sélamlik, Op. 48, No. 1, inspired by the Turkish ceremonial guard units assigned to the Sultan in Constantinople, and that Schmitt witnessed on parade when visiting the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s.

Schmitt did a masterful job in capturing the guard’s combination of “pomp and savagery” in his composition, which was completed in 1904 and first performed in 1909 by the Garde Republicaine Band in Paris.

Unlike Dionysiaques, which takes the listener through a variety of highly contrasting moods, Sélamlik conjures up an atmosphere of raucous celebration nearly continuously throughout its entire five-minute duration. You can sample a live performance of this music on YouTube, performed by the Philharmonic Winds conducted by Seow Yibin. The Corelia recording of this music has also been uploaded.

- Program Note by Philip Nones


Selamlik [si-lahm-lik], subtitled “Turkish Dance for Harmonie,” is an original composition for wind band written in 1906, seven years before Schmitt’s more notable wind band work, Dionysiaques. It was premiered in June 1909 by La Musique de la Garde Républicaine under the direction of Guillaume Balay. The work itself was inspired by a trip Schmitt took to Turkey in 1905, and the title refers to the portion of the Turkish home reserved for the company of men.

The new edition of this work was compiled by Stephen Meyer in 2006 from the original parts to conform to more contemporary wind band instrumentation. However, it still maintains the unique orchestration and complex compositional style of the original.

- Program Note from GIA Publications


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources