Servais - Andante cantabile et Rondo à la Mazurka sur un Air de Balfe (Urtext Edition, Piano Version)

This is a substantial concert piece based on Michael William Balfe’s 1836 opera The Maid of Artois, based on Abbé Prévost's novel Manon Lescaut. The source of Servais’s fantasia is “Il piacer,” a two-part vocal number from The Maid of Artois, comprising a cavatina (“Il piacer che inonda”) and cabaletta (Ognor costante t’amarò). In English, this aria is called “The rapture dwelling within my breast”. The opera premiered in London on 27 May 1836, with the celebrated Maria Malibran in the role of Isoline. Servais, who was in London at the time, most likely attended the premiere or an early performance. He also had personal contact with Balfe, as both appeared in a number of concerts in the city.

Servais would later dedicate this fantasia to Alfredo Piatti, whom he had met in Russia in 1845. The admiration was mutual: Piatti dedicated his Introduction et Variations sur un Thème de Lucia di Lammermoor, Op. 2, to Servais, published in January 1846. Their documented correspondence is sparse, but a letter from Servais in 1863 concerning a concert date change in Germany suggests their connection persisted. Several of Servais’s works were preserved in Piatti’s personal library, further attesting to their professional rapport. Performance records of the Andante cantabile et Rondo date to 1848, 1851, and 1852, though it was likely performed more frequently.

The work exists in three versions: with piano accompaniment, orchestral accompaniment, and an arrangement for string quintet with optional wind cues. Structurally, the piece follows the operatic model of a slow introduction (Andante cantabile) followed by a virtuosic fast movement (Rondo), mirroring the cavatina–cabaletta form. Servais’s designation of the second part as a “mazurka” is puzzling, as the original aria is unmistakably a waltz. The only part that resembles a mazurka is the tutti section at m. 62. Additionally, a clear polonaise section appears in the central portion of the work. This work is also one of the very few Servais composed without a variation set.