Servais - Le Carnaval de Venise, Op. 9 (Urtext Edition, Quintet Version)

Servais’s Fantaisie burlesque, ou le Carnaval de Venise is one of his brilliant variation-form concert fantasies, based chiefly on the famous Venetian melody “Cara mamma mia.” The work was first conceived under the title Fantaisie burlesque and dedicated to Arkady Rachmaninoff, paternal grandfather of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Its first known performance took place on 3 September 1838 in Halle, Belgium. The published title page preserves the original title while adding the subtitle ou le Carnaval de Venise.

The fantasy survives in several important early sources. Three manuscripts are housed at the Brussels Conservatory, two in the hand of Ulysse Claes and one autograph manuscript, MS 45.116. The source progression suggests a working copy, a fair copy, and finally the autograph, which most closely resembles the printed version while still differing from it in several respects. The engraver’s copies of the piano and orchestral versions are preserved at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich.

Like many other nineteenth-century virtuosos, including Paganini, Ernst, and Dotzauer, Servais used “Cara mamma mia” as the basis for a showpiece in variation form. The introduction draws on a song about Pulcinella, a melody that returns in the finale, while the main “Cara” theme is treated in variations that explore octaves, trills, up-bow staccato, wide-ranging passagework, and the full compass of the cello. The work moves between the tonal worlds of A major/minor and C major, with striking chromatic touches and a lyrical unnumbered slow variation in E major. In the finale, Servais combines the Pulcinella and “Cara” material with brilliant arpeggiation, while also reusing music from the early versions of Souvenir de St. Pétersbourg.

This edition presents the string quintet version of one of Servais’s most colorful and virtuosic fantasies in a clean modern engraving. This set contains the score, solo cello part, and quintet parts.

ASTA Level: 6