La poupée is from the collection of 12 piano duets Jeux d’enfants by G. Bizet published in 1871 as his Opus 22. The playback tempo in the realisation is 132 eighth note (quaver) beats to the minute which translates as 44 dotted quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute. There are various slowing downs at the ends of phrases and players will need to be clear as to what notes are to be played distinguishing slurs & ties. This is a gentle lilting music described as a berceuse with the intention of encouraging a child to engage with sleep The music needs to be played with a legato touch & without any exaggeration although some of the composers score detail is a little ambiguous in respect to this. Bizet’s musical language is nuanced and subtle with a strong chromatic element suggesting a composer with a great sense of harmonic colour in his writing. Another word for berceuse is lullaby Accompaniments are in place with both primo & secondo parts sounding. They play at 128, 132, & 136 eighth or quaver beats to the bar. Georges Bizet was a French romantic composer whose life was tragically short. He died before he could even enjoy the success of his most successful & famous composition the opera Carmen. His musical talents were deserving of a much more successful career. Whilst a brilliant student from a very early age with ambitions with a gift suggesting that he should become an opera composer he found it difficult to pursue a career as a composer having to work as a rehearsal pianist and arranger of music that wasn’t his own. He was a friendly with Saint Saens & Gounod from his student days One of the ironies of his life is that whilst a gifted pianist he rarely performed in public and chose not to pursue it as a career option? Liszt rated him very highly possibly almost as an equal. Winning the Prix de Rome in 1857 enabled him to live and work in Italy for 3 years although when he returned to Paris he found that works by newcomers like himself were not readily welcomed by audiences that favoured the established classical repertoire of the past. Most of Bizet’s compositions were largely ignored in his lifetime & it was only after his death that his music was rediscovered, published, recorded & played with first performances of works taking place well into the 20th century Bizet’s music was rediscovered and embraced much more in the 20th century with the Symphony in C, for example, having its premiere in 1935. First performances of his music often had to wait until the mid-1950’s.
