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35-404: The Dolly Suite , Op. 56, is a collection of pieces for piano duet by Gabriel Fauré . It consists of six short pieces written or revised between 1893 and 1896, to mark the birthdays and other events in the life of the daughter of the composer's mistress, Emma Bardac . An orchestral version of the suite was scored in 1906 by Henri Rabaud , and has, like the original piano duet version, been

70-501: A music catalogue , the opus number is paired with a cardinal number ; for example, Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801, nicknamed Moonlight Sonata ) is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as a companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" ( Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major , 1800–01), paired in same opus number, with both being subtitled Sonata quasi una Fantasia ,

105-404: A Spanish dance, a lively and picturesque piece of scene-painting, in the style of España by Fauré's friend Emmanuel Chabrier . The first public performance of the suite was given by Alfred Cortot and Édouard Risler in 1898. Fauré himself enjoyed taking part in performances of the work, not only in public but en famille with the young children of his friends. The photograph opposite shows

140-571: A composer's works, as in the sets of string quartets by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Haydn's Op. 76, the Erdödy quartets (1796–97), comprises six discrete quartets consecutively numbered Op. 76 No. 1 – Op. 76 No. 6; whilst Beethoven's Op. 59, the Rasumovsky quartets (1805–06), comprises String Quartet No. 7, String Quartet No. 8, and String Quartet No. 9. From about 1800, composers usually assigned an opus number to

175-453: A composition, Prokofiev occasionally assigned a new opus number to the revision; thus Symphony No. 4 is two thematically related but discrete works: Symphony No. 4, Op. 47, written in 1929; and Symphony No. 4, Op. 112, a large-scale revision written in 1947. Likewise, depending upon the edition, the original version of Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major, is cataloged both as Op. 38 and as Op. 135. Despite being used in more or less normal fashion by

210-591: A dossier describing in detail the racial make-up of all Conservatoire students for the occupying forces . Rabaud's cantata Daphné won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome in 1894. His opéra comique Mârouf, savetier du Caire combines the Wagnerian and the exotic. He wrote other operas, including L'appel de la mer based on J. M. Synge 's Riders to the Sea , as well as incidental music and film scores , such as

245-553: A number of important early-twentieth-century composers, including Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and Anton Webern (1883–1945), opus numbers became less common in the later part of the twentieth century. To manage inconsistent opus-number usages – especially by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and of the Classical (1720–1830) music eras – musicologists have developed comprehensive and unambiguous catalogue number-systems for

280-467: A specific musical composition, and by German composers for collections of music. In compositional practice, numbering musical works in chronological order dates from 17th-century Italy, especially Venice . In common usage, the word opus is used to describe the best work of an artist with the term magnum opus . In Latin, the words opus (singular) and opera (plural) are related to the words opera (singular) and operae (plural), which gave rise to

315-756: A story by Louis Laloy at the Théâtre des Arts in Paris. The Berceuse was the closing theme for the long-running BBC Light Programme (and later Home Service ) radio programme for small children Listen with Mother (1950–1982). It is performed in the film Bicentennial Man by Andrew and Little Miss. Although it was written as a piano duet, there have been numerous arrangements of the Berceuse for other instruments and ensembles. Examples include versions for piano and glockenspiel by Evelyn Glennie and for two guitars recorded by Julian Bream and John Williams . Recordings of

350-546: A work of musical composition , a practice and usage established in the seventeenth century when composers identified their works with an opus number. In the eighteenth century, publishers usually assigned opus numbers when publishing groups of like compositions, usually in sets of three, six or twelve compositions. Consequently, opus numbers are not usually in chronological order, unpublished compositions usually had no opus number, and numeration gaps and sequential duplications occurred when publishers issued contemporaneous editions of

385-636: A work or set of works upon publication. After approximately 1900, they tended to assign an opus number to a composition whether published or not. However, practices were not always perfectly consistent or logical. For example, early in his career, Beethoven selectively numbered his compositions (some published without opus numbers), yet in later years, he published early works with high opus numbers. Likewise, some posthumously published works were given high opus numbers by publishers, even though some of them were written early in Beethoven's career. Since his death in 1827,

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420-598: The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV-number) and the Köchel-Verzeichnis (K- and KV-numbers), which enumerate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , respectively. In the classical period , the Latin word opus ("work", "labour"), plural opera , was used to identify, list, and catalogue a work of art. By the 15th and 16th centuries, the word opus was used by Italian composers to denote

455-574: The Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa (1988), and the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier (1995). Opus number In music , the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition , or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer 's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles;

490-453: The 1925 score for Joueur d'échecs ( Chess Player ). Orchestral music by Rabaud includes a Divertissement on Russian songs, an Eglogue , a Virgilian poem for orchestra, as well as the symphonic poem La procession nocturne , his best known orchestral work, still occasionally revived and recorded. He also wrote music for chorus and orchestra and two symphonies . His chamber music includes several works for cello and piano as well as

525-625: The Conservatoire with André Gedalge and Jules Massenet . In 1908, he became a conductor at the Paris Opéra-Comique where he later conducted the 100th performance of his opera Mârouf, savetier du Caire , and from 1914 to 1918 he directed the Paris Opéra . In 1918 he became musical director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for only one season before returning to Paris. While in Boston, he

560-568: The Italian words opera (singular) and opere (plural), likewise meaning "work". In contemporary English, the word opera has specifically come to denote the dramatic musical genres of opera or ballet, which were developed in Italy. As a result, the plural opera of opus tends to be avoided in English. In other languages such as German, however, it remains common. In the arts, an opus number usually denotes

595-964: The Mendelssohn heirs published (and cataloged) them as the Italian Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 , and as the Reformation Symphony No. 5 in D major and D minor, Op. 107 . While many of the works of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) were given opus numbers, these did not always bear a logical relationship to the order in which the works were written or published. To achieve better sales, some publishers, such as N. Simrock , preferred to present less experienced composers as being well established, by giving some relatively early works much higher opus numbers than their chronological order would merit. In other cases, Dvořák gave lower opus numbers to new works to be able to sell them to other publishers outside his contract obligations. This way it could happen that

630-536: The case of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); after his death, the heirs published many compositions with opus numbers that Mendelssohn did not assign. In life, he published two symphonies ( Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 ; and Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ), furthermore he published his symphony-cantata Lobgesang , Op. 52, which was posthumously counted as his Symphony No. 2; yet, he chronologically wrote symphonies between symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, which he withdrew for personal and compositional reasons; nevertheless,

665-466: The cases of César Franck (1822–1890), Béla Bartók (1881–1945), and Alban Berg (1885–1935), who initially numbered, but then stopped numbering their compositions. Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) were also inconsistent in their approaches. Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was consistent and assigned an opus number to a composition before composing it; at his death, he left fragmentary and planned, but numbered, works. In revising

700-552: The composer playing the secondo part to the primo of the young Mlle Lombard, daughter of his host and hostess at Trevano, Lake Lugano, in 1913. Cortot arranged the work for solo piano in 1899, and in 1906 Henri Rabaud orchestrated the work for full symphony orchestra. This version received its first public performance conducted by Léon Jehin in Monte Carlo in December, 1906, and was later used to accompany "an ingenious ballet" with

735-415: The first four symphonies to be composed were published after the last five; and (c) the last five symphonies were not published in order of composition. The New World Symphony originally was published as No. 5, later was known as No. 8, and definitively was renumbered as No. 9 in the critical editions published in the 1950s. Other examples of composers' historically inconsistent opus-number usages include

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770-488: The name of her elder brother Raoul, who later became one of Fauré's favourite pupils. The young Dolly called her brother Messieu Aoul , which Fauré took as the original title for the piece. In his finished manuscript the title is shortened to "Miaou" (without hyphens). The Fauré scholar Robert Orledge writes that the title "Mi-a-ou", like that of the "Kitty-valse" later in the suite, is the responsibility of Fauré's publisher, Julien Hamelle . Andantino . The third section of

805-523: The only two of the kind in all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. Furthermore, the Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, in C-sharp minor is also catalogued as "Sonata No. 14", because it is the fourteenth sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Given composers' inconsistent or non-existent assignment of opus numbers, especially during the Baroque (1600–1750) and the Classical (1750–1827) eras, musicologists have developed other catalogue-number systems; among them

840-433: The pieces between 1893 and 1896, for Régina-Hélène Bardac (1892–1985), known to her family as Dolly (she was later to become Madame Gaston de Tinan), the young daughter of the singer Emma Bardac , with whom Fauré had a long-running affair. He was in the practice of sending pieces of music, in manuscript, to mark Dolly's birthdays and other family occasions. In a marked departure from his customary practice, Fauré gave each of

875-475: The same opus number was given to more than one of his works. Opus number 12, for example, was assigned, successively, to five different works (an opera, a concert overture, a string quartet, and two unrelated piano works). In other cases, the same work was given as many as three different opus numbers by different publishers. The sequential numbering of his symphonies has also been confused: (a) they were initially numbered by order of publication, not composition; (b)

910-468: The six movements a descriptive, sometimes whimsical, title. Ordinarily he disliked fanciful titles for musical pieces, and maintained that he would not use even such generic titles as "barcarolle" unless his publishers insisted upon them. His son Philippe recalled, "he would far rather have given his Nocturnes, Impromptus, and even his Barcarolles the simple title Piano Piece no. so-and-so". Allegretto moderato . The Berceuse , marking Dolly's first birthday,

945-657: The subject of many recordings. The best-known section of the suite, the Berceuse , has been arranged for several combinations of instruments. In the United Kingdom it became famous as the play-out tune to the BBC radio programme Listen with Mother . The suite consists of six short pieces, each with its own title: Berceuse , Mi-a-ou , Le jardin de Dolly , Kitty- valse , Tendresse , and Le pas espagnol . The complete suite takes about fifteen minutes to perform. Fauré wrote or revised

980-561: The suite in its original form for piano duet include those by Geneviève Joy and Jacqueline Bonneau (1955), Robert and Gaby Casadesus (1962), Kathryn Stott and Martin Roscoe (1995), Pierre-Alain Volondat and Patrick Hooge (2000), as well as Pascal and Ami Rogé. Among recordings of the orchestral version are those by the Orchestre national de l'ORTF conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham (1959),

1015-487: The suite, "Le jardin de Dolly", was composed as a present for New Year's Day 1895. It contains a quotation from Fauré's First Violin Sonata , composed 20 years earlier. The Fauré scholar Jean-Michel Nectoux considers this "perhaps the jewel of the suite, with its lovely tune, moving harmonies and limpid, subtle counterpoint." Tempo di valse . The fourth piece is no more feline in its reference than "Mi-a-ou". The Bardacs' pet dog

1050-448: The un-numbered compositions have been cataloged and labeled with the German acronym WoO ( Werk ohne Opuszahl ), meaning "work without opus number"; the same has been done with other composers who used opus numbers. (There are also other catalogs of Beethoven's works – see Catalogues of Beethoven compositions .) The practice of enumerating a posthumous opus ("Op. posth.") is noteworthy in

1085-405: The word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work. Opus numbers do not necessarily indicate chronological order of composition. For example, posthumous publications of a composer's juvenilia are often numbered after other works, even though they may be some of the composer's first completed works. To indicate the specific place of a given work within

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1120-493: The works of composers such as: Henri Rabaud Rabaud came from a musical background. He was the son of a cellist Hippolyte Rabaud (1839–1900), professor of cello at the Paris Conservatoire , while his mother was a singer who almost created the role of Marguérite at the request of Charles Gounod . His maternal grandfather was a well-known flautist, while his great aunt was Julie Dorus-Gras . Henri studied at

1155-464: Was a very early piece, composed in 1864 for Suzanne Garnier, the daughter of a family friend. In 1893 Fauré made some small amendments and changed its title from "La Chanson dans le jardin" to "Berceuse" – that is, a cradle song. Allegro vivo. "Mi-a-ou" was written for Dolly's second birthday in June 1894. The title does not refer to a pet cat, as has often been supposed, but to Dolly's attempts to pronounce

1190-505: Was called Ketty, and in Fauré's manuscript the piece is called "Ketty-Valse". Nectoux calls this piece "a kind of whirling portrait" of the animal. Andante . "Tendresse", written in 1896, was originally dedicated to Adela Maddison , wife of a music publisher. Like "Le Jardin de Dolly", this piece is lyrical, but is in a more modern style, making use of chromaticism of the kind Fauré later deployed in his Nocturnes. Allegro. The suite ends with

1225-628: Was elected to membership in the Alpha chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity, the national fraternity for men in music. Following the resignation of Gabriel Fauré in 1922, Rabaud was his successor as director of the Conservatoire, where he remained until his retirement in 1941. Notable students during those years were Olivier Messiaen , Jean Langlais , and Jehan Alain . Staff included Paul Dukas and Jean Roger-Ducasse for composition, Marcel Dupré for organ, Marcel Moyse for flute, and Claire Croiza for singing. In October 1940, he helped compile

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