Barcarolle

Barcarolle

A barcarolle (from French; also Italian barcarola, barcarole) is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, the two most famous barcarolles are those by Jacques Offenbach, from his opera "The Tales of Hoffmann", and Frédéric Chopin's Barcarolle in F sharp major for solo piano.

A barcarolle is characterized by a rhythm reminiscent of the gondolier's stroke, almost invariably a moderate tempo 6/8 meter. While the most famous barcarolles are from the Romantic period, the genre was well-enough known in the 18th century for Burney to mention, in "The Present State of Music in France and Italy" (1771), that it was a celebrated form cherished by "collectors of good taste." It was a popular form in opera, where the apparently artless sentimental style of the folklike song could be put to good use: in addition to the Offenbach example, Paisiello, Weber, and Rossini wrote arias which were barcarolles, Gaetano Donizetti set the Venetian scene at the opening of "Marino Faliero" (1835) with a barcarolle for a gondolier and chorus, and Verdi included a barcarolle in "Un Ballo in Maschera": (Richard's atmospheric "Di’ tu se fidele il flutto m’aspetta" in Act I). Arthur Sullivan set the entry of Sir Joseph Porter's barge (also bearing his sisters, cousins and aunts) in HMS Pinafore to a barcarolle. Schubert, while not using the name specifically, used a style reminiscent of the barcarolle in some of his most famous songs, including especially his haunting "Auf dem Wasser zu singen" ("to be sung on the water"), D.774.

Other barcarolles include the three Venetian gondolier's songs from "Songs without Words", opus 19, opus 30 and opus 62 by Felix Mendelssohn; the "June" barcarolle from Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons"; Charles-Valentin Alkan's barcarolle from the Op. 65 "Troisième recueil de chants"; Béla Bartók's "Barcarolla" from "Out of Doors"; Leonard Bernstein's The Kings' Barcarolle from Candide; guitarist Agustin Barrios's Julia Florida; several examples by Anton Rubinstein, Mily Balakirev, Alexander Glazunov, Edward MacDowell, and Ethelbert Nevin; and most impressively of all, the collection of thirteen by Gabriel Fauré for solo piano. Representing the 20th century are Ned Rorem's "Barcarolles", written in 1949 in Morocco.

ee also

* Canzone Napoletana

References and further reading

* "The New Harvard Dictionary of Music", ed. Don Randel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-674-61525-5
* Article "Barcarolle", in "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2


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  • BARCAROLLE — Chant, souvent improvisé, des bateliers italiens, surtout vénitiens (barcarola vient de barcaruolo : gondolier). Cependant, dans les Cantigas de amigo espagnoles (telles celles de Pero da Ponte, poète du XIIIe siècle, proche des troubadours), on… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Barcarolle — Bar ca*rolle, n. [F. barcarolle, fr. It. barcaruola, fr. barca bark, barge.] (Mus.) (a) A popular song or melody sung by Venetian gondoliers. (b) A piece of music composed in imitation of such a song. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • barcarolle — BARCAROLLE. sub. fém. Chanson Italienne, chantée à Venise par le peuple, et surtout par les Gondoliers …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • Barcarolle — La barcarolle ou barcarole[1] est une forme musicale vocale ou instrumentale de mesure ternaire (6/8, 9/8 ou 12/8) avec un accompagnement rythmiquement uniforme, évoquant le mouvement lent d une barque. Sommaire 1 Origine 2 Exemples …   Wikipédia en Français

  • barcarolle — (bar ka ro l ) s. f. 1°   Sorte de chanson particulière aux gens du peuple et surtout aux gondoliers de Venise. •   La plupart des ariettes de Lulli sont des airs du Pont neuf et des barcarolles de Venise, VOLT. Lettr. Chabanon, 18 déc. 1767.… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • BARCAROLLE — s. f. Chanson italienne, que chantent les gens du peuple à Venise, surtout les gondoliers. Composer une barcarolle. L air d une barcarolle. Nos musiciens composent des airs dans le goût des barcarolles vénitiennes …   Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 7eme edition (1835)

  • BARCAROLLE — n. f. Chanson des gondoliers de Venise. Par extension, il signifie Air de musique où l’on imite la coupe et le rythme de ces chansons. La barcarolle de Guillaume Tell . La barcarolle d’ Obéron …   Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 8eme edition (1935)

  • barcarolle — barcarola ит. [баркаро/ла] barcarolle фр. [баркаро/ль], англ. [ба/кэроул] баркарола (песня венец. гондольеров) …   Словарь иностранных музыкальных терминов

  • barcarolle — /bakəˈroʊl/ (say bahkuh rohl) noun 1. a boating song of the Venetian gondoliers. 2. a piece of music composed in the style of such songs. Also, barcarole. {French barcarolle, from Italian barcar(u)ola boatman s song, from barcar(u)olo a boatman,… …  

  • Barcarolle, fis (1846) — La Barcarolle de Chopin en Fa# Majeur n est pas sans rappeler l Italie, de par son titre qui évoque les gondoliers de Venise, mais aussi de par un art consommé du bel canto. La poésie émanant de cette pièce en font certainement un des chef d… …   Wikipédia en Français

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