Servais - Fantaisie et Variations sur des motifs de l'Opéra la Fille du Régiment de Donizetti, Op. 16 (Urtext Edition, Quintet Version)

François Servais (1807–66), a Belgian cello virtuoso and composer, is best remembered for his Six Caprices, Op. 11, but the majority of his output is made up of fantasias based on opera themes and folk songs. Fantaisie et Variations sur des motifs de l'Opéra la Fille du Régiment de Donizetti, Op. 16 was among Servais’s more famous works, especially

François Servais (1807–66), a Belgian cello virtuoso and composer, is best remembered for his Six Caprices, Op. 11, but the majority of his output is made up of fantasias based on opera themes and folk songs. Fantaisie et Variations sur des motifs de l'Opéra la Fille du Régiment de Donizetti, Op. 16 was among Servais’s more famous works, especially posthumously. It influenced the next generation of Romantic era composers like Karl Davydov, David Popper, and Antonín Dvořák.

The Fantaisie et Variations is in 5 parts, with all of the section having A, either major or minor, as the tonal center. The opening theme of the Fantaisie et Variations is a minor version of “Chacun le sait chacun le dit.” This is the only section where the solo cello has an obligatory tacet. A recitative, based on “La voilà! La voilà...” follows the introduction. The theme and four variations on “Chacun le sait chacun le dit…” are the centerpiece of the Fantaisie. Each variation explores one or two techniques: var. 1 – long shifts and string crossings; var. 2 – long bows and syncopated bowing; var. 3 – artificial harmonics; var. 4 – octaves. It is important to note that David Popper’s Etude Op. 73, No. 38 is based on the figuration found in mm. 225-232 of this Fantaisie, a figure that Victor Herbert also used in his Second Cello Concerto. The Fantaisie continues with the Romance “Il faut partir mes bons compagnons d'armes” and finishes with the Finale, based on “De cet aveu si tendre…” The figuration in mm. 324-337 was famously memorialized in the first movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, Op. 104.

This is the version for cello and string quintet (includes solo part).