Divertissement, Opus 6for wind quintet and piano| Written: 1906 | Premiered: Paris, April 10, 1906 Societe Moderne des Instruments a Vent |
| Length: 6-7 minutes | One movement |
| Publisher: Rouart, Lerolle & Co |
Dedication: Societe Moderne des Instruments a Vent |
About this Work:|
Throughout his life, Roussel was drawn to non-standard combinations of
instruments: some examples include Marchand du sable qui passe, the
Second Trio, the Serenade, the Duo for bassoon and double bass, and
the ballet Aeneas. These unusual combinations make less likely the
performance of music that is worth hearing. The Divertissement
falls into this category; it adds a piano to the traditional
woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn).
In the Divertissement we hear for the first time the unmistakable stamp of Roussel's personal musical style. The music is generally cheerful, rhythmic in a cocky sort of way, transparently scored, and above all unpretentious; traits that defined much of his chamber music in the years to come. |
How does it sound?| The personality of the Divertissement is evident from the very first theme in the oboe. Martin Cooper wrote that the direct simplicity and unequivocal tonality of this theme was an alien-sounding novelty in an era that prized sophistication and Wagnerian chromaticism. Here is the beginning of the Divertissement (66K WAV file). |
Other opinions:|
Roussel wrote a Divertissement which was not only remarkable in
itself but also stood out as something alien to the Schola
traditions and prophetic of much that was not to become general in
French music for another ten years or so. [Martin Cooper]
Even today we can understand why the work was regarded as extremely modern in its time (we know this from contemporary comments), and why it did not sound in the least old-fashioned when it was played seventeen years later at the famous I.S.C.M. [International Society for Contemporary Music] festival in Salzburg in 1923, a year after the society was founded. [Per Skans] ...the Wind Divertissement of 1906 is a very forward-looking work, in which one can see foreshadowed the Neo-Classicism of the post-war years of nearly twenty years later. [Charles Cudworth] Fun for all; imaginative and racy writing. [Maurice Hinson]
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