Concert Band - Level 5 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.912831
Composed by Alexis Emmanuel Chabrier. Arranged by Keith Otis Edwards. Classical,Contemporary,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 213 pages. Volitant Music #3497295. Published by Volitant Music (A0.912831).
Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) wrote this as a piece for piano (4-hands) in the 1880s after attending a performance of Tristan and Isolde in Munich. Chabrier had been moved to tears by Richard Wagner's romantic music drama, but when Chabrier returned home to Paris, he wrote this burlesque, a pastiche of the various themes from the opera. It was a curious thing to do, because instead of writing a tribute to Wagner's masterpiece, it was as if he instead squirted Wagner in the face with a seltzer bottle. Wagner's champion, Hans von Bülow, became enraged when he heard Chabrier perform the parody, but Wikipedia reports that Francis Poulenc described Souvenirs de Munich as irresistibly funny, where Wagner's principal themes appear with false beards and fake moustaches.
This arrangement for wind band is greatly simplified from the original piano piece to make it more playable. Still, bands will find it a challenge, although instrumentalists and audiences both are certain to enjoy this clever novelty from La Belle Ã?poque.
