Product Description
Despite the poor reviews of the incidental music, Bizet arranged his work into a suite of four movements. Now known as L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1, the suite used a full symphony orchestra but without the chorus. The first performance was at a Pasdeloup concert on 10 November 1872.
Movements
I. Prélude, Allegro deciso (the March of the Kings)
II. Minuet, Allegro giocoso (The ending of this movement is slightly expanded from the version in the incidental music.)
III. Adagietto (In the incidental music, this number is preceded and followed by a melodrama that, in the suite, forms the central section of the concluding Carillon. For this purpose it is transposed up a semitone.)
IV. Carillon, Allegro moderato
The suite opens with a strong, energetic theme, which is based on the Epiphany carol "March of the Kings", played by the violins. (This tune had also been used two centuries earlier in Jean-Baptiste Lully's Marche de Turenne.) Afterwards, the theme is repeated by various sections. After reaching a climax, the theme fades away. It is followed by the theme associated with L'Innocent (the brother of Frédéri, the hero). The Prélude concludes with the theme associated with Frédéri himself. The second movement, resembles a minuet, while the third is more emotional and muted. The last movement, Carillon, features a repeating Bell-tone pattern on the Horns, mimicking a peal of church bells.
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