# urgent help please



## twosetter gang (Nov 2, 2021)

I have an assignment and i have decided to talk about classical music and literature in the 19th century.
So that i am lookink for a piece composed in this century that has been inspired by literature (the best would be a french poem but if it is not it does not matter).
I would like something in the romantic gender if it is possible, since I have already got an impressionistic work, the best would be some tchaikovski but I have not found one that fit so I am not sure it exists.
And last request, it would be better if it was not a vocal piece because I found some vocal piecies in my search but I do not really like vocal piecies.

Thanks a lot for your help, I know what I want is very specific, I seeked for hours but I have not been able to find it.
Have a very nice day!(and please forgive my mistakes, english is not my first language)

ps: if you know this piece you are definitely the boss


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## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeping_Beauty_(ballet)

?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Well, there's Les préludes ("Preludes" or "The Beginnings"), S.97, the third of Franz Liszt's thirteen symphonic poems. The music was composed between 1849-55, and began as an overture to Liszt's choral cycle Les quatre élémens (The Four Elements), then revised under inspiration from the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_préludes


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Tchaikvosky's symphonic poem _Francesca da Rimini_ portrays a story from Dante's _Inferno_.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

_Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun_ (Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) by Debussy, influenced by a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé. Debussy also set the poem "Claire de Lune" by Paul Verlaine. Of course, if one of these is the "impressionist" piece you have ...

You might look into Charles Baudelaire. Several composers, some French including Vierne, have worked with his poetry.

If you don't know anything about Berlioz's _Symphonie fantastique_, you might want to look up information. The program was written by the composer, not a different poet. But the story told by the symphony is very Romantic in presentation. And very French.

You might find an idea or two here: Poetry, Performance, Music in Nineteenth-Century France


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

progmatist said:


> Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.


The literary source goes back before the 19th century, also as regards European translations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_mille_et_une_nuits

Besides "_Les Preludes_", mentioned above, there's also Berlioz' "_Les Nuits d'Ete_" as an obvious option, based on Theophile Gautier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_nuits_d'été

Also Tchaikovsky's "_Manfred Symphony_", based on Byron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Symphony


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

joen_cph said:


> ..... Also Tchaikovsky's "_Manfred Symphony_", based on Byron
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_Symphony


Probably not a better option than this one as it's based on Tennyson's Manfred. Seconded.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Try Berlioz' song cycle "Les Nuits d'été" - and specifically the second song, "Le spectre de la rose".






It's a gorgeous setting of a poem by Théophile Gautier, you can find the text here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_nuits_d'été


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

SONNET CLV said:


> You might look into Charles Baudelaire. Several composers, some French including Vierne, have worked with his poetry.


Wiki:


French composer Claude Debussy set five of Baudelaire's poems to music in 1890: _Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire_ (_Le Balcon_, _Harmonie du soir_, _Le Jet d'eau_, _Recueillement_ and _La Mort des amants_).
French composer Henri Duparc set two of Beaudelaire's poems to music: "L'Invitation au voyage" in 1870, and "La vie antérieure" in 1884.


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