123

Scènes bohémiennes

1 Prélude - 63 bars

2 Sérénade - 50 bars

3 Menuet - 96 bars

4 Danse bohémienne - 117 bars

2 flûtes (1 petite flûte), 2 hautbois (1 cor anglais), 2 clarinettes, 2 bassons, 4 cors, 2 cornets à pistons, 3 trombones, timbales, cymbales, tambour, triangle, harpes, cordes

Composition: In July 1869 Bizet offered to make a selection from La Jolie Fille de Perth for Henry Litolff to conduct at the Opéra, but it was refused. The Danse bohémienne performed in December 1871 may have been simply the movement from La Jolie Fille de Perth given in concert with or without the voices. The plan to arrange a four-movement orchestral suite from the music of the opera was probably not realised until 1873-74, perhaps in emulation of Massenet’s Scènes hongroises which Bizet had recently arranged for piano. The suite was never published as Bizet intended, except in a piano arrangement entitled Les Bohémiennes. The Danse bohémienne was printed as a ballet in the full score of Carmen in 1877; the Menuet was included in L’Arlésienne Suite no. 2 in 1879; so when the full Scènes bohémiennes was published in 1882 the Menuet had to be replaced by a Marche, based on no. 8 of the opera but not arranged by Bizet. The suite has always been performed and recorded in this incorrect form.

The movements are based on La Jolie Fille de Perth as follows: no. 1 is the Prélude; no. 2 is bars 70–112 of no. 13, with bars 74–77 repeated at bar 88 and a two-bar close; no. 3 is from no. 17, with the voices omitted; no. 4 is no. 11 with the voices omitted.

Autograph full scores:
Movement 1: Private collection. 32-stave paper, 4 f., 6 p. of music.
title page, music 1–6, blank. Prepared for engraving with pl. no. A.C. 5463.
Movement 2: Private collection. 32-stave paper, 4 f., 5 p. of music.
title page, music 1–5, 2 blanks. Prepared for engraving with pl. no. A.C. 5463.
Movement 3: Private collection. 32-stave paper, 4 f., 6 p. of music.
title page, music 1–6, blank. Marked in another hand 'Remis dans le 2e suite de l’Arlésienne'.
Movement 4: F-Pn MS. 10596, gift of Mina Curtiss. 32-stave paper, 345 x 270 mm., 6 f., 8 p. of music.
title page, music 1–8, 3 blanks. Prepared for engraving with pl. no. A.C. 3795 (as for the full score of Carmen).

Manuscript arrangement of the Menuet: GB-NWm. Oblong 20-stave paper, 280 x 360 mm., 6 f., c. 1880.

title page, music 2–9 (5 occurs twice), 2 blanks. The arrangement is for orchestra, different from Bizet's own arrangement, made probably by a Dutch arranger whose source must have been the piano arrangement of the suite published in 1875. The name 'F. Boers' has been entered at the top of the title page.
Printed arrangement, piano solo:
pl. no.:

A.C. 2795

pages:

title page, blank, music p. 1–16, 2 blanks

date:

printed in 1874, published in 1875

ann.:

Bibliographie de la France, 28-8-1875 @ 3 fr.

note:

No. 3 was later issued by Choudens as 2me Menuet in the second Arlésienne suite, pl. no. A.C. 5462 GB-NWm.

copies:

F-Pn Ac p.1832 (stamped 1875)

D-B (kriegsverlust)

E-Mn MC/3895/27

GB-Lbl

J-Tk

US-NYp

US-R (IMSLP)

Printed full scores:
3
pl. no.:

A.C. 5463

pages:

title page, blank, music p. 1–56

date:

1882

ann.:

Listed on the title page of the piano arrangement, 1875

note:

The publisher is identified on p. 1 as Choudens Père et Fils, rue St Honoré 265. The subtitle is there given as Ballet et fragments symphoniques de la Jolie Fille de Perth. The third movement is a Marche, based on no. 8 of the opera, not the Menuet, as originally intended.

copies:

F-Pn D1121(1) (stamped 1882)

AUS-NL

GB-Lbbc, GB-Lbl, GB-NWm, GB-SHu

NL-Mz

US-PHf, US-Wc


4

Liber, London, 1934, as Bohemian Scenes, arranged by Max Rhode. D-B.

5

Kalmus, New York, c. 1970. Reprint of Choudens edition.

Printed orchestral parts:
  • 1

    Choudens, Editeur, 265 rue St Honoré, pl. no. A.C. 3210. Some wind parts were made up from the printed parts of La Jolie Fille de Perth (A.C. 1549) and some parts of the fourth movement were derived from the printed parts of Carmen (A.C. 3276). The plate number suggests a date of 1875, but the parts were probably not printed until 1882, at the same time as the full score. GB-Lbbc, GB-SHu.

  • 2

    Liber, London, 1934, as Bohemian Scenes, arranged by Max Rhode.

  • 3

    Kalmus, New York, c. 1970.

Arrangements, piano solo, extracts:
  • 1

    Nos. 3 (Menuet) and 4: see La Jolie Fille de Perth nos. 11 and 17.

Arrangements, piano duet, extract:
  • 1

    Choudens, pl. no. A.C. 5983, 1883, Danse bohémienne. F-Pn Ac.p.1857

Letters:
1874 Bizet to Choudens (?):
'Je m’occupe de la Jolie Fille. Vous aurez tout cela lundi ou mardi.'
Wright, p. 40
2-1874 Bizet to Choudens:
'J’ai vu Maton [?] qui me demande la suite de la jolie fille. 5 1rs violons, 4 2ds, 3 altos, 3 vlles, 4 c. basses. Vous serez très gentil de préparer cela.'
US-NYpm MFC B6255.C552
Performances:
12-1871Danse bohémienne, Concerts du Grand-Hôtel, conducted by Danbé
23-12-1883Angers
Discography:
London PO, Beecham, 1934
London PO, Munch, 1948 (Danse bohémienne)
Royal PO, Beecham, 1950
French RNO, Cluytens, 1953
Paris Conservatoire O, Lindenberg, 1954
Paris Opéra, Le Conte, 1957
Lamoureux O, Fournet, 1957
?, Martinon, 1961
Suisse Romande, Ansermet, 1961
Colonne O, Dervaux, 1962
London SO, Benzi, 1965
ORTF, Martinon, 1971
O de Paris, Barenboim, 1975
Cincinnati Pops O, Kunzel, 1987
Mexico City PO, Bátiz, 1990
Montreal SO, Dutoit, 1997
Bibliography:
  • Pigot (1886) 318
  • Pigot (1911) 282
  • Curtiss 175, 426
  • Wright 72, 350-52
  • Lacombe 609
  • Le Ménestrel, 24-12-1871