Servais - Fantaisie Caractéristique sur deux célèbres Romances de Lafont, Op. 8 (Urtext Edition, Quintet Version)

Servais’s Fantaisie caractéristique sur deux célèbres romances de Lafont is based on two songs by the virtuoso violinist Charles Lafont, “C’est une larme” and “Le Départ du jeune Marin.” Lafont’s songs attracted several major nineteenth-century composers, including Franz Liszt and Henri Herz; Lafont himself also served as arranger for Herz’s Duo et variations sur la romance “C’est une larme.” According to Servais scholar Peter François, Servais had close contact with Lafont in 1834 during his extended stay in Paris.

The first known performance of the Fantaisie caractéristique took place in Vienna on 20 February 1842, with documented performances spanning the period from 1842 to 1860. The work also circulated abroad: Anton Hekking performed it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on 21 January and 20 May 1891, and with the Boston Pops on 9 July 1891. The piece is dedicated to Nicolas de Wladimiroff, Nikolay Vladimiroff, an aristocrat and amateur cellist from St. Petersburg.

The work is cast in double-variation form, though it focuses primarily on “C’est une larme.” The introduction presents the song in a D-minor version, leading through a virtuosic cadenza into the D-major theme and two variations. A statement of “Le Départ du jeune Marin” follows, then a B-flat-minor variation built largely on broken octaves, a passage that likely inspired David Popper’s Etude No. 38 from Hohe Schule des Violoncello-Spiels, Op. 73. The minor-key introduction returns in F-sharp minor before a final D-major variation on “C’est une larme” brings the fantasy to a brilliant close.

This set contains the score, solo cello part, and string parts.

ASTA Level: 6