Servais - Souvenir d'Anvers (Urtext Edition, Quintet Version)

Souvenir d’Anvers was composed in the 1830s. The string quintet source also calls this work a Fantaisie. The first known performance of Souvenir d’Anvers happened on 3 December 1837 in Antwerp during a concert in the Salle du Musée (the present-day Académie des Beaux-Arts), in the rue de Vénus. Servais frequently visited Antwerp to play concerts

Souvenir d’Anvers was composed in the 1830s. The string quintet source also calls this work a Fantaisie. The first known performance of Souvenir d’Anvers happened on 3 December 1837 in Antwerp during a concert in the Salle du Musée (the present-day Académie des Beaux-Arts), in the rue de Vénus. Servais frequently visited Antwerp to play concerts and see friends. This likely inspired the composer to dedicate the work to the city.

Souvenir d’Anvers has existed in versions for cello with piano, string quintet, and orchestra accompaniments, however, the orchestra version is not extant. When the string quintet version is performed, the wind cues are to be played instead of the main line. This work is unique among the composer’s souvenirs and fantasias because it does not contain a variation set. Instead, Souvenir d’Anvers is best categorized as an adagio and allegro. Other representative works in the genre from the era include Carl Maria von Weber’s Andante e rondo ongarese, Op. 35, Felix Mendelssohn’s Capriccio brillant, Op. 22, and Robert Schumann’s Konzertstück, Op. 92.

Souvenir d’Anvers begins with a unison in F minor, based on the Hungarian minor scale. The soloist enters with a nostalgic melody in F minor. The only cadenza of length connects the adagio with the allegro section. The allegro section is a sonata-rondo. While Servais does not give the rondo a title, the feel of a “rondo alla Cosacca” (Ukrainian Cossack style) comes to mind with its rhythms and melodies. The rondo theme is in C major. The second theme is presented in G major in the exposition and in A-flat major in the recapitulation. This theme is later reused in the Rondo of Concerto Militaire, Op. 18 with slight adjustments and a different accompaniment. The figuration from mm. 351-399 is also used in the finales of the Op. 5 Concerto and the Grand Duo (co-composed with Henry Vieuxtemps). The coda begins with an identical figuration to variations in Fantaisie La Romantique (var. 4) and O cara memoria, Op. 17 (var. 3).

Souvenir d’Anvers is also unique among other works by Servais in that it does not use passages of octaves and thirds.

Our edition is based on the autographs of cello solo and piano parts (MS 45.106 (3)) as well as the string quintet version (MS 45.109) in the hand of Ulysse Claes. Three pages of the piano part have been rejected and do not fit the cello part. All sources are housed at the Brussels Conservatory Library.

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