Widor’s most expansive piano suite.

Carnaval: 12 pieces pour piano, Op. 61 (1891) by Charles-Marie Widor

Not only was Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) an iconic organist and accomplished pianist, but he was also a highly sought-after composer of opera, ballet, and incidental music in the 1880s and 90s. Carnaval, a set of twelve extraordinarily original and diverse piano pieces, comes from the height of this successful period. The writing is utterly theatrical, as if Widor were composing a ballet suite and decided to condense the entire pit orchestra into a piano score. Widor’s mature, fluent compositional style shines as he persistently develops themes and produces intricate variations, often to the point of sheer unpredictability. Nuanced rhythms and agile counterpoint abound and frequent excursions to remote key areas showcase the composer’s sleight of hand with late-romantic musical syntax. Framed by two outer works of festive grandeur, the inner movements present a variety of scenes, people, and national dances evoking the processions of Carnival celebrations.

I. Kettledrums and Trumpets. The parade approaches with the dull pounding of timpani, an unusual main theme that becomes more attractive as it develops throughout this overture, complemented by scraps of trumpet fanfares and capped with rapid piccolo scales in the final coda.

II. Flirtation. Amidst the crowd of festival goers we meet a flirting personality, one who charms and teases us while retreating into ever more remote key areas and finally disappearing, leaving us enchanted by echoes of the first blush.

III. Masked ball. A lively, light-footed waltz-scherzo takes a comic misstep through duple meter before regaining composure and building through several varied refrains. A sighing cantabile theme emerges with lush orchestration and expressive outbursts. The accelerated coda lands on its feet with panache.

IV. Rosita. The first of three unspecified female portraits in the suite. It possibly refers to Rosita Mauri, the prima ballerina in Widor’s extremely popular ballet La Korrigane from 1880. A gentle waltz in G searches for and discovers the warmth of an Eb Major chanson at the heart of the piano’s range. The melody wanders off into a dizzying cadenza before continuing with a variation of the waltz theme. A vivace coda ties a wildly capricious bow on this character sketch.

V. Turkish Entry. The first of a series of national portraits. An alluring march alla turca with a dotted, two-step gait opens up into a delightfully toe-tapping middle section. A gem.

VI. Zanetto. Mascagni’s 40-minute operatic lyric scene of the same name premiered several years after Widor’s Carnaval, but perhaps they both based their Zanettos on the same beloved Renaissance-era roaming minstrel character. A rustic melody with strummed accompaniment gives way to several improvisatory gestures. B major dissolves into Ab major as a serene berceuse arises with adoring variations in its wake.

VII. Viennese. A graceful street song that frolics through accented dissonances with a carefree demeanor.

VIII. Polish Entry. The characteristic polonaise rhythm leads a couple of brief but heroic cavalry charges. A da capo marking returns us to the preceding Viennese movement.

IX. Hungarian. A stern, pesante theme in bass octaves, punctuated by thorny acciaccatura echoes, opens this triple-themed portrait. A wistful folk song in A major eases the tension between reprises when there suddenly appears a rhapsodic duet of longing beauty, an unexpected treasure before returning to the beginning material.

X. Bohemian woman. The woman’s alluring dance alternates between two nimble refrains, the second of which exoticizes the whole-and-a-half-step jump between A# and G.

XI. Francesca. Widor’s Liebestraum with clear influences of late Liszt. The most expansive slow movement of the set is an indulgent and passionate romance with a spacious melody of noble repose. Structured and paced like an opera aria, this reverie ends with a recitativo sigh and the entwining of two voices within the warm embrace of an F# major sunset.

XII. Finale. The brooding E minor of the overture is now ebullient E major as the orchestra strikes up for the closing ceremonies. The sparkling main theme of this movement reappears throughout in a vibrant array of textures with a particular development of its ornamental trill. An alternate theme in hemiola triplets creates a festive, drumlike effect. Mirroring the approach of the parade in the first movement, the drums fade away into the distance before an eruption of octaves slams Carnaval to a close.

00:00 I. Kettledrums and Trumpets
04:48 II. Flirtation.
07:23 III. Masked Ball.
11:00 IV. Rosita.
13:23 V. Turkish Entry.
15:30 VI. Zanetto.
18:51 VII. Viennese.
19:43 VIII. Polish Entry.
20:43 Da capo Viennese.
21:38 IX. Hungarian.
25:44 X. Bohemian Woman.
27:03 XI. Francesca.
32:49 XII. Finale.

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