《Adagietto from L’arlésienne》

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Georges Bizet is a Romantic French composer and pianist. This Adagietto is the third movement of his L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1. It is quite tranquil and poetic. Léon Carvalho commissioned Bizet in 1872 to write music for a play adaptation of a novel of the same name by Alphonse Daudet. The play consists of three acts in five tableaus, an orchestra and a choir. The characters Ranaud and Balthazar are meeting in a scene when the Adagietto appears in the play, and the music consists of muted strings only. A violin made by French luthier Jacques Boquary (1680-1730) in 1719 is used in this recording of the Benjamin Godard arrangement for violin and piano. The gently flowing melody of the violin speaks true to all of the romantic sentiments that words cannot express.