32

Valse avec chœur

318 bars

chœur: sopranos I-II, ténors, basses

flûte, 2 clarinettes, 2 cors, 2 cornets à pistons, 4 cylindres [= 1 valve trombone], cordes

Poem: Eugène Scribe (1791-1861), from Act II of La Nuit de Noël, an opéra-comique set by Henri Reber and first played at the Opéra-Comique on 9-2-1848.

La valse légère

Doit plaire aux amants,

Et l'hiver préfère

Le bon passe-temps !

Bonheur de la danse

A tes doux accents,

On brave en cadence

Les sombres antans !

Composition: 11 January 1855 (dated autograph), when Bizet was sixteen. Like the Chœur d'étudiants, this was an exercise in preparation for the Prix de Rome.

Autograph score: F-Pn MS. 428, gift of Reynaldo Hahn. 30-stave paper, 352 x 270 mm., numbered as 8 bifolia and 16 f. (32 p. of music), headed:

f. 7r is a collette on an almost empty page headed 4. Final. On f. 16v, at the end: Ce 11 Janvier 1855.

Printed vocal score:

pl. no.:

ED 6726

pages:

date:

1978

note:

French and German words (translation by Fritz Weisse)

copies:

CH-Bps