87, 94, 56

Tarentelle



VERSION 1: for voice and piano (in Italian)
[musical score]
255 bars
voice and piano

Poem:The first verse is stanza 14 of Rispetti, from Giuseppe Tigri (ed.), Canti populari toscani (Florence, 1856), but the remaining two verses are not found there. Bizet perhaps drew on a different collection of Tuscan songs. No source is given in either the autograph or the printed edition.

Tra la la la!
Giovanettin che passi per la via,
Non ti voltar che non canto per te!
Canto per il mio ben, ch’è andato via
Si per il mio ben ch’è più bellin di te!
Si! ah! ah!
Quando parti’ da me quell’ angioletto,
Il core di stacco’ da questo petto!
Fedele a lui sarò fino alla morte!
E non mi lagnerò della mia sorte!
Quando ritornerà, Oh! mi beata,
Questa finestra mia sarà infiorita!
Di fiori adornerò la porta e il tetto.
Ah! vieni presto! Oh! giorno benedetto!
Giovanettin che passi per la via,
Non ti voltar che non canto per te!
Canto per il mio ben, ch’è andato via
Si per il mio ben ch’è più bellin di te!

Composition: The song was ready for publication in 1869 and may have been written with Christine Nilsson's voice in mind sometime in the period 1867–69.

Autograph score: F-Pn MS 462, Malherbe bequest. 30-stave paper, 2 f., 4 p. of music.
Music p. 1–4, in G minor, with Hartmann’s stamp and plate number (343) on p. 1. There is no indication of the author of the verse. Italian text only.
Printed score:
1
pl. no.:

G.H. 343

pages:

title page, blank, music 1-9

date:

1869 (from pl. no.)

note:

The title on p. 1 is TARENTELLE, not TARENTELLA, followed by à Mademoiselle CHRISTINE NILSSON. No author of the Italian poem is given.

copy:

US-STu MLM 103 (inscribed by Bizet to Marie Brousse)

Dedicatee: Christine Nilsson (1843–1921), Swedish soprano for whom the part of Catherine in La Jolie Fille de Perth was intended and who created the part of Ophélie in Thomas’s Hamlet in 1868.

Letter:
2-1869 Bizet to Mme Trélat:
'J’ai en ce moment plusieurs mélodies à faire – impossible !'
Wright, p. 25
VERSION 2: for voice and piano (in French)

Poem: Édouard Pailleron (1834–99), poet and dramatist. Chanson in Amours et Haines (Paris, 1869), p. 191–92.

Le papillon s’est envolé
La fleur se balance avec grâce
Ma belle où voyez-vous la trace
La trace de l’amant ailé ?
Le flot est rapide et changeant
Toujours sillonnant l’eau profonde
La barque passe, et toujours l’onde
Efface le sillon d’argent.
Le papillon, c’est votre amour
La fleur et l’onde, c’est votre âme
Que rien n’émeut, que rien n’entame,
Où rien ne reste plus d’un jour.
Autograph score: not known
Printed score:
  • 1

    Choudens, as no. 20 in Vingt mélodies, 1873, p. 122–31, French text. In two keys, E minor and G minor.

  • 2

    Choudens, 30 Boulevard des Capucines, pl. no. A.C. 2486, 11 p. F-Pn Fol Vm7 901 (low key), US-DMu.

  • 3

    Schirmer, New York, no. 2917, 11 p., 1882, in French and English (translated by F.W. Rosier). GB-Lcm (low key), US-SLug (low key).

  • 4

    Sonzogno, Milan, pl. nos. 7644-7645, 7 p., c. 1888, in Italian as Tarantella, in two keys. I-Mc.

  • 5

    Hansen, Copenhagen, pl. no. 12396, 9 p., 1898, in Swedish, French and Danish. D-B.

Arrangement for piano solo:
  • 1

    Schirmer, New York, before 1910, arranged by G. Buonamici.

Arrangement for voice and orchestra:
  • 1

    Cecilia Music Concept, Cologne, 2013, as Souvenirs d'été, no. 7, arranged by Andreas N. Tarkmann.

Dedicatee: Christine Nilsson

Discography
  • Valerie Masterson, Roger Vignoles, 1986
  • Cecilia Bartoli, Myung-Whun Chung, 1996
  • Ann Murray, Graham Johnson, 1998

VERSION 3: for voice and orchestra (in French)
voice, petite flûte, flûte, 2 hautbois, 2 clarinettes, 2 bassons, 4 cors, 2 cornets à pistons, 3 trombones, timbales, tambour basque, cordes
Autograph score: Private collection. Oblong 18-stave paper, 12 f., 21 p. of music, in G minor.
title page, blank, music 1-21, blank. The score has been prepared for printing in 1889–92, but no printed score is known. There is no indication of the date of the score, and the author of the verse is not named. French text.
Performances:
27-3-1881Emma Thursby, Cirque d’hiver.
1882New York Symphony Orchestra, cond. Leopold Damrosch
26-10-1938Ninon Vallin, Opéra-Comique, cond. Roger Désormière
Bibliography:
  • Pigot (1886) 310
  • Pigot (1911) 268
  • Dean 268
  • Wright 34
  • Lacombe 638
  • Frits Noske, French Song from Berlioz to Duparc (New York: Dover), 1970, p. 196-97.