Indy - Song for cello and piano

Indy - Song for cello and piano. You can download the sheet music Indy - Song for cello and piano (Lied op.19) on this page. In this piece, d'Indy kept to the strict definition of a Lied he had learned from Franck — a sonata (or symphony) slow movement, based on a single well developed theme. In fact this Lied resembles a poem by Liszt. This is how Leon Vallas summarises the material: "Two beautiful, expressive melodies alternate, the main one in B flat major, the other in G minor, with passing modulations and an exquisite tonal trick near the end of the second section. A coda briefly recalls the second melody during the repeat of the first — a discreet hint of a cyclical conception."

On closer inspection, the way this youthful score is written emphasises the dialogue between soloist and wind section, following the contemporary example of Gounod and Saint-Saens. The piano part is as difficult as that for the soloist! In a Mendelssohnian andantino non troppo tempo the piano presents the basic thematic material of the first subject. The solo part often works round the A string in such a high register that for a long time it was the viola transcription which continued to be the more frequently played.
To view the first page of Indy - Song for cello and piano click the music sheet image.

Cello part: 3 pages. 193 K

Piano part: 10 pages. 701 K

Vincent d'lndy (1851 - 1931) was a nationalist and a militant Catholic. When he began his studies with Franck at the Conservatoire he had just been demobilised after enlisting as a volunteer during the siege of Paris. But this patriot let himself be converted to Wagnerianism by Liszt (whom he visited in Weimar in 1873) and became the first French composer of any importance to make the pilgrimage to Bayreuth.

With Saint-Saens, Faure, Duparc and Chausson he founded the Societe Nationale de Musique, becoming its president in November 1886. This was the setting on 18 April 1885 for the first performance of his Lied for cello, with Adolphe Fischer, the dedicatee, as soloist. It was taken up on the viola by Eugene Ysaye in Brussels on 5 February 1890, in a transcription by the Belgian viola player Van Hout, but its real introduction to the public at large was on 20 and 27 December 1891, when it was played by Baretti. The score was well received, apart from some friendly criticism from Duparc.