Product Description
The Shanghai Redowa Waltz was written for a concert given by Ali Ben Sou Alle on September 9, 1856 in Shanghai, China The Redowa is a Czech dance which is between the Waltz and the Mazurka which was popular in Paris and London during the
1840s-1850s which is danced in a relatively slow tempo.
One of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Wind Music, Ali Ben
Sou Alle (Charles-Valentin Soualle) was born in 1820 in Arras, France.
After receiving his first prize in Clarinet at the Paris Conservatory in
1844. he served as the director of music of The French Marine Band in
Senegal, and then was named first clarinet solo at the Opéra-Comique in
Paris. However, after the Revolution of 1848, Soualle was forced to flee
France to England where he settled in London, playing in the Orchestra
of the Queen's Theatre. His songs and piano pieces were published in
London.
While in London, Soualle met another exiled French
musician, Louis Antoine Jullien, who conducted a light music series in
London. Jullien encouraged Soualle to take up the saxophone, and after
modifying the instrument by adding a single octave mechanism (the modern
system used today) and keys for the lower register, Soualle became
known as a virtuoso and began touring performing solo recitals (or
mono-concerts, as they were called at the time) calling his modified
saxophone the «turcophone ». He performed in all the European capitals
and then traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Manilla, Java, through
China and then to India where he finally settled in Mysore, becoming the
director of the Royal Music for the Maharadjah. It was during this
period that he converted to Islam and changed his nmae to Ali ben Sou
Alle (or "Ali, son of Soualle"). He subsequently travaled to Ile
Maurice, to French Polynesia, the Cap of Natal and the Cap of Good Hope.
All of these voyages were subjects of musical works which Soualle
entitled "Souvenirs de..." and may perhaps have been part of a
collection
known as "The Royal Album" which was presented to the
Prince of Wales after a royal concert. Soualle returned to Mysore in
1858 and was almost killed in the Indian Revolution.
Around 1860,
Soualle returned to France for health reasons and began publishing his
own music. On March 27 1865, he performed a command performance for the
Emperor Napoleon III at the Tuileries Palace in the presence of the
entire Imperial Family. After 1865, nothing more is known about him.
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