Suite of Symphonies for brass, strings and timpani No. 1

The Suite of Symphonies for brass, strings & timpani No. 1 (Suite De Symphonies, Première Suite de Symphonies) was written by Jean-Joseph Mouret, in the baroque era of music. The first movement of this piece, the rondeau, is widely known and commonly used in weddings, and notably on the PBS program Masterpiece.[1] Mouret composed this piece in 1729, while being the director for the Concert Spirituel, which was one of the first concert series known in existence.

It was written in 1729,[2] in the French Baroque style.[3]

Structure

This piece is a four-movement work that consists of the Rondeau, which is a piece of music where the main theme or melody is repeated several times throughout; the second movement is the Gracieusement sans lenteur; the third movement is the Allegro; the final movement being the Guay.[4]

Background and premiere

The Symphony was written for Prince of Dombes, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, the grandson of King Louis XIV of France. Auguste had served under the military commander Prince Eugene of Savoy. Mouret dedicated this suite to his skill in battle, inspired by the Austro-Turkish War.[4] Mouret first played this piece for King Louis XV in the Palace of Versailles[5]

Fanfare-Rondeau Legacy

This rondeau from the first Suite de Symphonies is well known as the theme from Masterpiece Theatre,[6] and remains popular at weddings.[7]

In 1991 rondeau was part of the soundtrack for the video game Civilization as the 'English theme'.

In 2008, the first four episodes of Boing Boing Video's SPAMasterpiece Theater opened with a chiptune remix of Jean-Joseph Mouret's "Rondeau: Fanfare" by Hamhocks Buttermilk Johnson as a parody of Masterpiece Theatre.[8]

Between June and September 2020, the song was used as the opening to the "Word Play" vocabulary short films on Nickelodeon's NOGGIN SVOD channel/app.

See also

References
  1. Wright, Craig (2013). Listening to Western Music. p. 50. Cengage Learning. ISBN 1285546229
  4. Morita, Patsy. "Jean-Joseph Mouret: Suite of Symphonies for brass, strings & timpani No. 1". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  5. N.A. "Premiere suite De Symphonies". The Broadway Bach Ensemble. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  8. Jardin, Xeni (November 4, 2008). "John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol IV: V1V4 M3X1CO". Boing Boing Video. Boing Boing. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
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