Menuet Pompeux (March) - Emmanuel Chabrier

In 1880, while on a convalescent holiday at the coastal resort of Saint-Pair, Emmanuel Chabrier composed what were to be called ‘Pièces pittoresques’. Both Alfred Cortot and Francis Poulenc discuss these short works enthusiastically. César Franck, at their premiere in 1881, remarked that those present had "just heard something exceptional. This music links our own time to that of Couperin and Rameau". One of the movements is the present ‘Menuet Pompeux’ dedicated to Gabrielle Petitdemange. It shows Chabrier looking backward rather than forward. If the minuet is more like an ‘Auvergnat dance’, the G major trio is a nod to the 18th century. Maurice Ravel orchestrated ‘Menuet Pompeux’ and now Dutch arranger Marcel Baars transscribed this orchestration for Symphonic Band.