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Re: Messager

Author: mrn
Date: 2010-06-25 00:00

It's not my favorite piece, either, but I think the key is not to take it too seriously.

Messager was first and foremost a composer of operettas--the French answer to Gilbert and Sullivan, you could say--and I don't think Solo de Concours really departs a whole lot from that sort of lighthearted, musical-comedy sort of style. As far as I know it's Messager's only piece in the solo instrument and piano genre.

So I think it helps to think of it as more or less a medley of "show tunes" strung together--not particularly deep or subtle and maintaining at least some minimal level of lightheartedness throughout.

The first part is a happy-go-lucky, everything's going my way, birds are chirping kind of tune. The second, perhaps a pleasant romantic ballad, with a little instrumental bridge (the sextuplet passage) over which the protagonists exchange some spoken dialogue before the tune resumes. The plot thickens during the cadenza, and the story resolves in the third section, which is more or less a reprise of the first part (or "first act," if you like). Finally, the last section is the curtain call, when the whole cast comes back on stage and takes their bows.

YouTube has some samples of the music Messager is most famous for, which I think it helps to hear to better understand the stylistic context of Messager's music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxQD_h11dCE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTYx-e97oxI&feature=related

Post Edited (2010-06-25 00:01)

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