Description
Soirées Musicales, (Musical Evenings), Op. 9, is a suite of five movements by Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) based on incidental music Britten had written in 1935 for a film called The Tocher. The suite draws thematic material from a number of works by Rossini: the three central movements stem from Rossini’s own Soirées Musicales; the first from Pas de soldats (Soldiers’ March) from William Tell ; and the finale is a much speeded up version of no. 3, La charité (Kindness) from Trois choeurs religieux.
- March – a lively opening march
- Canzonetta – in a gentle Italianate style
- Tirolese – a peasant song from the Tyrolean Alps
- Bolero – a sensuous Spanish dance
- Tarantella – a whirling, exuberant Sicilian tarantella
In 1941 Britten composed another suite after Rossini called Matinées Musicales (an arrangement I’m currently working on). Combined with the Soirées Musicales and Rossini’s overture to La Cenerentola (arranged here for wind quintet) as a finale this formed the ballet suite Divertimento.
