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original information
This Canzone closes a series of short pieces for four to seven musicians, written between 1957 and 1969. This one, for violin and three double basses, is a sort of detour of academic ghosts, and an exhibition of tics: tics of the 19th century, but also of the 20th. I wanted to treat Vieuxtemps and Paganini, the soundtrack of my childhood, in much the same way as the Surrealists treated the engravings of the last century for their collages. The result left me a little bewildered, and I kept it sleeping in my files for some twenty years, until a day of monographic concerts in Blanc-Mesnil, on March 20, 1988, where the premiere took place, staged and directed by Bernard Djaoui. This form of humorous theater seemed the most appropriate for the work.
Humor in music is one of the most difficult genres to master. The deliberate imbalance between the violin and the three double basses, and the ironic allusions to obsolete music, have a scenic potential that immediately creates a dramatic situation. It’s up to the director to skilfully exploit this potential to complete a work that is little more than an outline. At the premiere, the audience had a lot of fun.
Instrumentation
1 violin & 3 double bassesFirst performance
Conservatoire du Blanc-Mesnil, Mâche event 3.20.1988