Sophie Mathieu - Le Fort de Vaux
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$37.00
$37.00 - $85.00
per item
Description
Le Fort de Vaux conveys the story of the resistance of its namesake fort during the World War I battle of Verdun. The orchestra is used to paint various scenes of the battle in the mind of the listener, as if it were unfolding in front of them.
For Symphony Orchestra
LeFort de Vaux conveys the story of the resistance of its namesake fort during the World War I battle of Verdun. The orchestra is used to paint various scenes of the battle in the mind of the listener, as if it were unfolding in front of them. The first scene, is a bird’s eye view of the battlefield around the fort, as if the listener were flying over it. A moving sixteenth-note “engine” is used in the violins in combination with accents in the percussion to capture the dynamic nature of the battle. To contrast the motion, an ominous drone sounds in the low strings, and the French Horns play a simple “battle cry”, echoed by a solo flute. Though most of the piece is fast and energetic, the tragedy of war is captured as well. The soldiers’ loss of friends and family members to the battle and their cries of lament, is represented by the mournful sound of a solo cello. The anguished melody introduced in this section is used to build momentum to the end, just as the soldiers would have felt a desire to avenge their fellow combatants who were lost in the first phase of the battle.