Florent Schmitt – Dionysiaques

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Florent Schmitt (1870-1958)

Dionysiaques (1913)
for Wind Band

Performers:    • Cincinnati Wind Symphony: Songs and D...  

Score from: https://imslp.org/wiki/Dionysiaques%2...)

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Here's what Thomas wrote on his original video:

'Although wind bands have proliferated greatly in numbers and importance over the last century, growth in repertoire specifically written for the wind band has lagged, as many composers seem to favor traditional ensembles like orchestras and quartets. One conspicuous exception to this trend is the French composer Florent Schmitt, who composed two major works for wind band and percussion: Dionysiaques and a Marche militaire, which formed the first and second works in his Op. 62. It has been speculated that Schmitt's service in World War I brought him into closer contact with military bands and encouraged him to write this substantial music. Like many of Schmitt's works, Dionysiaques partakes of a vaguely defined exoticism, marrying sonorities which would not sound out of place in the context Maurice Ravel's brilliant musical depictions of "foreign" places. Schmitt took his title from the orgiastic festivals held in ancient Greece to celebrate Dionysius, the god of wine, fertility, drama, and other enjoyable things. Schmitt's work depicts a celebration beginning as a sensuous dalliance, soon rising in fever to a profoundly drunken romp. The work begins with a languorous, decadent theme in the lower brasses and winds, with a yearning theme overlaid in the higher winds; here the music sounds reminiscent of Igor Stravinsky's Firebird ballet. However, the party seems close at hand, with occasional outbursts of quicker, louder music. When the percussion becomes almost obsessive, the first of a series of jaunty, march-like party themes enters. Schmitt's writing here poses a test of the virtuosity of any wind band, with quicksilver unison trills, gigantic leaps, and unrelenting tempi. At times, the party seems to be quieting down, and just before the end of the piece the music comes almost to a complete halt, but of course Schmitt has reserved the biggest climax of all for the end. In general, Schmitt has been an underestimated composer; Dionysiaques is a good introduction to his music, full of appealing themes, inviting sonorities, crowd-pleasing climaxes; in short, an extraordinary sonic spectacle.' - Andrew Lindeman Malone