Ibert Concertino Da Camera Analysis

T: Concertino da Camera

C: Jacques Ibert

D: 1935

Ded: Sigurd Rascher

G: Concertino for alto saxophone and orchestra with winds

Historical information: Jacques Ibert was born 1890 in Paris, France. He was a composer whose music is admired for its colorful, technically polished, and often witty neoclassical style. Ibert studied music at the Paris Conservatory and won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Le Poète et la fée (The poet and the fairy). In Rome he composed his most popular works, the symphonic suite Escales (1922). From 1937 to 1960 Ibert was the director of the French Academy in Rome. He wrote for almost every genre of music. He wrote seven operas, the most successful was Angélique. His most popular orchestral work was Divertissement

The piece consists of two movements. The second movement is made up of a slow and fast section, giving the piece the effect of being three movements. The piece contains many elements including whole tone scales, chromaticism, melodic fragments, and complex rhythms. The accompanying ensemble consists of a small orchestra, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and trumpet. The first movement of the piece contains a virtuosic dialogue between the soloist and accompaniment. The second movement starts slow and opens with a recitative. It is very somber until a transition into the finale. The finale is a challenging showpiece that is very lively and technically challenging. The challenges of the piece include playing with a large ensemble, the technically demands in the finale, and endurance throughout the

Maurice dedicated it to Marcel Mule, and he was the first performer to record it in 1957. Jean-Marie Londeix premiered the piece in 1958 in Brest, France. Maurice later arranged a piano reduction for the piece. The title translates to “pictures of provence” and Londeix wrote that the movements are a series of postcards depicting picturesque and attractive images. Provence, a rural area in Southern France, was where Maurice vacationed with her husband and the Mule family. The movements are programmatic and represent different images of the area from her memory. The first movement titled “Dance of the young girls” is a light, fast piece that imitates the farandole, a Provencal dance. The second movement, “Song for my lover”, is a slow movement that is based on the tuning pitches of a guitar. The third movement, “The Gypsy Girl”, is based on a rhythm used in gypsy music. The fourth movement, “From the graveyard les Alyscamps, a soul sighs”, describes a Roman burial site in Provence. This movement is slow and hauntingly lyrical. The last movement, “La Cabridan”, is named after an insect similar to a bumblebee. It is meant to show the dexterity in the saxophone. Difficulties of the work include playing accurately with the accompanist, capturing the style, and capturing the different moods of each