Jean Balissat

Promenade avec J.J. Rousseau

Promenade avec Jean-Jacques Rousseau plays with excerpts of the Devin du Village (1752), arranged, orchestrated and composed for strings. This work was commissioned by the Christiane and Jean Hennberger Foundation and had his first performance June 5th, 2000 in Geneva (Switzerland) by the Soloists of Geneva (String-Sextet). The current version for string ensemble was adapted by the composer in 2005. The latter version has been recorded by the Chamber Orchestra Arpeggione of Hohenems, conducted by Jean-François Antonioli (Gallo-1199).
Jean Balissat wrote following notes to his work:
Played for the king, in Fontainebleau in 1752, Le Devin du Village [The Diviner of the Village] gained a considerable success and maintained for more than a half-a-century Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s reputation as a composer. It is a pleasant lyrical pastorale the charm of which essentially relates to its melodic invention. Being inspired and influenced by the way Stravinsky drew from Pergolese’s music in his Pulcinella, I conceived the Promenade for string sextet, using eight fragments of the Devin du Village, always quoted in their original keys. One can distinguish five brief parts, which are mostly linked together in the following manner:
1. Overture with the addition of some imitations and, within the repeat, an alternating binary-ternary metric game.
2. Lento based on the rhythm of the Sicilienne, with the addition of some chromatic sound-drawings in counterpoint.
3. Menuet with trio merging three different moments of the Devin.
4. Passacaglia. Here Rousseau’s part is limited to the first four bars, following which point only the bass line remains, on which I have composed 9 variations (in the 4 last ones, the theme is in augmentation).
5. As in the original score, the Promenade ends with the famous round dance 'Allons danser sous les ormeaux', in a new instrumental setting and ornamented by some light counterpoints.
Jean Balissat