Servais and Vieuxtemps - Grand Duo sur des motifs de l'Opéra Les Huguenots for violin and cello (Urtext Edition)

Musical collaborations were common in the nineteenth century, even if the collaborator’s name did not always appear prominently on the score. One fine example is the Grand Duo on themes from Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, co-composed by the Belgian virtuosos François Servais and Henry Vieuxtemps.

The work is dedicated to Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (1827–1891), Marshal of the Russian Imperial Court, as well as a violinist and composer. Yusupov also transcribed Servais’s Souvenir de Spa and Fantaisie sur deux Airs Russes for violin.

Like many of Servais’s fantasias, the Grand Duo is cast in four large sections: an introduction, a set of variations, a slow section, and a finale. The introduction draws on Meyerbeer’s overture, based on the Lutheran chorale “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott.” The theme and variations use Raoul’s romance “Plus blanche que la blanche hermine,” while the slow section comes from the duet “Beauté divine, enchanteresse.” The finale is based on the Act I orgie “Bonheur de la table.”

The sources were graciously provided by the Servais Society. This is the first edition to include a performance score. Separate parts are also included.

ASTA Level: 6