Servais - Fantaisie sur La Folle (Urtext Edition, Quintet Version)

Fantaisie sur La Folle is an early work by François Servais (1807–1866), closely related to Fantaisie brillante, intitulée concertino, an early version of Souvenir de la Suisse. The romance La Folle by Albert Grisar (1808–1869) was first published in late 1834, and many variation sets on the song followed in 1835 and 1836. Servais likely composed his own variation set around the same time.

The Fantaisie begins with a short tutti section. The transition between the tutti and the solo theme is a simple statement of the head motive, though this motive is not used in the theme or the variations. The theme begins at “Ah! oui, je me souviens,” followed by three numbered variations, each separated by tutti sections. The song-like fourth variation could stand in for the slow movement of a concerto. The finale is in three parts: a transition, the fifth variation in march style, and the coda. The coda is almost identical to the ending of Fantaisie brillante.

Our edition is based on the manuscript cello solo part in the hand of Ulysse Claes, MS 45.106 (5), housed at the Brussels Conservatory Library. The piano part is not extant. For this edition, the piano part and an orchestration for string quintet were reconstructed, occasionally drawing on material from Fantaisie brillante. The sources were graciously provided by the Servais Society. This is the first edition of Fantaisie sur La Folle.

This set includes a score, solo part, and quintet parts.

ASTA Level: 6