Servais - Souvenir de la Suisse, Op. 10 (Urtext Edition, Piano Version)

Souvenir de la Suisse was composed before 1830 under the title Fantaisie brillante: intitulée concertino. The first known performance took place on 8 January 1830. The work is based on a Ranz des Vaches, likely by Servais himself. The final page of the manuscript cello part is signed “vaque mon ami Poumback [sic],” using Servais’s whimsical pseudonym Jan Poumbak.

The work exists in versions with piano and string quintet accompaniment. An orchestral version may have been planned, but Servais crossed out “orchestre” on the autograph title page and replaced it with “quatour.” Traces of orchestral thinking remain, especially in the finale, where several wind cues appear in the string parts.

Souvenir de la Suisse is in four sections: a dramatic B minor tutti and recitative, a pastoral G major section introducing the Ranz des Vaches, a D major theme with three variations, and a finale that begins in B-flat major before moving to G major. Unlike many of Servais’s later works, the soloist does not play during the tutti sections.

ASTA Level: 6