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Tuesday 2 March 2010
Tune of the Day: Farandole
from “L'Arlésienne” by Georges Bizet
This is the fourth and last movement in L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2. Two contrasting themes are heard in this exciting orchestral piece. The first, in minor, is a march theme based on the Christmas carol “March of the Kings”, which was also used in the opening Prelude to the first suite. The lively second theme, in major, has the character of the farandole, a pipe-and-drum-driven peasant dance based on the Provençal “Danse dei Chivau-Frus”. In this traditional southern French dance a long line of dancers, linked by the handkerchiefs they hold, wend their way through the streets, following a musician playing pipe and tabor (a portable drum).