Gregoir-Servais - Les Regrets (Transcribed for Cello and Piano

Joseph “Jacques” Gregoir (1817-1876) was a Belgian pianist and composer. A large part of his output consisted of opera fantasies, though he also wrote a piano concerto and numerous short pieces for piano. Gregoir published more than twenty opera fantasies in collaboration with the Belgian cellist-composer François Servais (1807-1866), a type of collaboration that was common at the time.

Gregoir published his short piece Les Regrets: Pensée musicale with Schott in December 1850, dedicating it to Queen Louise-Marie of Belgium, who had died in October of the same year. According to Servais scholar Peter François, Servais’s cello arrangement was first printed on 30 March 1852 in an edition of 200 copies, and it continued to be reprinted until 1909.

Les Regrets is a bittersweet piece in A major, cast in rondo form. It was also transcribed for violin by Hubert Léonard (1819-1890) and for clarinet by Joseph Blaes (1814-1892), both published in 1858.

Our edition is based on the French first edition published by Richault around 1853.

ASTA level: 3