Cortège, or Morceau pour piano, is a work by Lili Boulanger for solo piano or violin (or flute) and piano, composed in 1914.

Composition

Cortège, or Morceau pour piano (title indicated on the autograph manuscript for solo piano), was composed on June 4 and 5, 1914, at the Villa Médicis.

The work, which exists in two versions, one for solo piano and the other for violin (or flute) and piano, is dedicated to Yvonne Astruc.

Premiere

Cortège was premiered in Paris on December 17, 1915 at the Petit Palais, with Nocturne, by Émile Mendels (violin) and the composer at the piano, during a music session dedicated to the Poilus, around the “Cocardes de Mimi-Pinson” exhibition organized by Gustave Charpentier. The piece was performed again on December 1, 1917, at Salle Gaveau, by Yvonne Astruc (violin) and Nadia Boulanger (piano).

A version for organ (transcription by Nadia Boulanger) was performed by Nadia Boulanger on February 9, 1925 in Philadelphia, then in New York (John Wanamaker Auditorium) on January 15, 1925.

Editions

The piano version was published by Ricordi in 1919 (cotage R. 537). The publishing contract was signed by Lili Boulanger on January 29, 1918. The date of first publication is April 12, 1919, copyright having been granted in May 1919 and renewed on April 3, 1947.

The work was subsequently published as a collection by Schirmer (New York, 1979, cotage 48149c), along with D'un jardin clair and D'un vieux jardin, under the title Trois Morceaux pour piano.

The version for violin (or flute) and piano was published by Ricordi in 1919 (cotage R. 531). The publishing contract was signed by Lili Boulanger on January 29, 1918. The date of first publication is April 12, 1919, the copyright having been granted in May 1919 and renewed on April 3, 1947.

The work was subsequently published as a collection by Schirmer (New York, 1981, cotage 48156c), along with Nocturne, under the title Deux Morceaux pour violon et piano.

Comments

Cortège, “a cheerful, optimistic page of very brilliant writing” and “full of flavor”, has an average running time of around one minute and forty seconds.

Musicologist Florence Launay notes that the score, "in the key of B major, is a happy piece. The short, two-bar dance theme runs through the piece, in various harmonizations and transpositions that each time shed new light on it".

For Anne de Fornel, “Cortège's carefree, playful character is rooted in Impressionist music, with its use of pentatonic scales and fragmented motifs; its liveliness comes from the frequent use of pizzicati on the violin and stacccato chords on the piano, as well as contrasting nuances”.

A piano and violin version was recorded by Nadia Boulanger and Yvonne Astruc in 1935 under the title Introduction et Cortège. In this version, the introduction that precedes Cortège is a transcription for violin and piano of a fragment from Faust et Hélène (“Le réveil de Faust”).

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortège_(Boulanger) / License: CC BY-SA 4.0