Concert champêtre

Concert champêtre (Rural Concerto) is a harpsichord concerto by Francis Poulenc, which also exists in a version for piano solo with very slight changes in the solo part.

It was written in 1927-28 for the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska who said she "adored" playing it as it made her "insouciant and gay!" (Ivry 1996) Landowska was responsible for the composition of several other new pieces of music for the instrument, notably Manuel de Falla's harpsichord concerto and his El retablo de Maese Pedro (at the premiere of which, at the salon of Winnaretta Singer, Poulenc and Landowska met for the first time).

After a private performance in which Poulenc played the orchestral parts on the piano, the piece's public premiere was on May 3, 1929 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, with Landowska playing the solo part and the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris conducted by Pierre Monteux. The work is scored for an orchestra of two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, trombone, tuba, timpani, side drums (with and without snares), tambourine, triangle, bass drum, cymbals, xylophone, and strings (the usual two sections of violins, violas, cellos and double basses--Poulenc stipulates eight each of first and second violins, and four each of violas, cellos and basses). It is an expression of Poulenc's somewhat maverick compositional style that he pits the harpsichord against the combined resources of a full orchestra, while in his Organ Concerto, he balances the much more powerful organ against only timpani and strings.

The piece is in three movements:

1. Allegro molto - Adagio - Allegro molto
2. Andante: Mouvement de Sicilienne
3. Finale: Presto très gai

The piece alludes to music of the Baroque period, when the harpsichord was a common instrument, both in terms of its melodic and harmonic language and in its structure.

A typical performance of the Concert champêtre lasts around twenty-five minutes.

Like many harpsichord works from the 20th century, this piece was written for the 'revival' harpsichord which was prevalent at the time, rather than historic instruments from the 17th and 18th century, which may need to be amplified to be heard in a large orchestral setting (although Trevor Pinnock has played and recorded it on a 3-manual Hass instrument with disposition 16' 8' 8 ' 4' 2', lute, 2 buffs, 2 couplers.).

Source

• Benjamin Ivry (1996). Francis Poulenc, 20th-Century Composers series. Phaidon Press Limited. ISBN 071483503X.