Léopold de Meyer: Marche d’Isly

Berlioz Music Scores

Léopold de Meyer: Marche d’Isly (H 108)

Orchestration by Berlioz (?)

In 1845 Berlioz made orchestral arrangements of two marches for piano by the Austrian composer Léopold de Meyer (1816-1883), the Marche Marocaine and the Marche d’Isly, but whereas the Marche Marocaine (H 105) was published in Berlioz’s time and has been included in the New Berlioz Edition (volume 22b), the orchestrated Marche d’Isly was never published and is frequently deemed to have been lost altogether. A manuscript of an orchestral version of this march, in the hand of Pierre-Aimable Rocquemont, a copyist who worked for Berlioz, is extant and preserved in the library of the Paris Opéra. It was not included in the NBE, though there are some grounds for believing it might be Berlioz’s version. On all this see further the remarks by Pierre-René Serna on a separate page. The march is presented here in full score, and to the best of our knowledge this is the first time that it has ever been published.

The manuscript contains some additional markings in hands different from that of Rocquemont, some in ink and others in pencil, some of which might be by Meyer and others by Berlioz (according to Holoman, Catalogue p. 274). The additions are of two kinds – some extra notes written in to various parts, and two additional lines of music written at the bottom of most pages (pages 3-4, 5-15, 17-21, 27-41 of the manuscript), which are not identified but might be for drums (it is difficult to see what else they could be, as the original manuscript score already contains parts for triangle, cymbals and bass drum). The same hand has added notes in the triangle part on pages 27-31, whereas in the original the triangle is silent until the last two bars of page 31 (bar 199). The handwriting of these particular additions is not that of Berlioz, and from a stylistic point of view it seems most unlikely that the additional parts for drums (?) and triangle should be by Berlioz, who was always very discriminating in his use of percussion. They have therefore not been included in this transcription, which seeks to reproduce the manuscript score of Rocquemont but not these additional parts.

Rocquemont’s manuscript, though for the most part tidily written, is not flawless and some editing has been necessary.

(a) There are a number of omissions which have had to be restored. The principle ones are:

Bar 54: trombones, add mention unis
Bars 63-67: first violins, should probably be playing in octaves as at the start and end of this passage
Bar 65: Horns in D, first horn should be playing the same as second horn in second half of bar
Bars 66-67: Horns in D, should be marked unis
Bar 78, second half: violins 1 should probably be playing in octaves as in the next few bars
Bars 83 & 91: first violins, add marking unis in second half of the bar
Bar 90 or 92: there should probably a diminuendo starting here
Bar 96: missing dynamic p in all string parts
Bar 109: all string parts should be marked arco
Bars 147-8, 151-2, 155-6: there should probably be slurs on the second beat in flutes, oboes, clarinets
Bar 207: flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, should probably drop to p in second half of the bar, as when the phrase first appeared at bar 199; cf. the rise to mf in bar 212 then f in bar 214
Bar 208: Horns, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, violas, cellos, basses, should probably all drop to p after the first beat as is indicated for 1^st and 2^nd violins
Bar 215: the triangle part seems missing; it has been restored from the part for cymbals and bass drum
Bars 234-5, 249-50: the parts for horns seemed to have been omitted by error (cf. earlier, bars 230-1); in the manuscript they have been pencilled in subsequently, perhaps by Berlioz himself
Bar 244, second beat: p marking omitted in Horns in A

(b) There are some possible or definite errors, notably:

Bars 6, 10, 14, 18: the D sharp in the oboes (and therefore also the clarinets) appears to be a mistake for D natural, cf. later bars 43, 47 etc. where there is no D sharp when the same passage is repeated
Bar 20: Horns in A, reading unclear in 2^nd part of the bar, which has therefore been left empty
Bar 21: Horns in A, superfluous accidental (sharp)
Bar 43: 2^nd Horn in D, first note probably C rather than E as written
Bars 54, 58, 62: it is not clear that the rhythm of the timpani in the first beat is correct or whether it should be the same as in all other bars in this passage
Bar 116: top E in clarinet 1 should be sharp; G of bassoon 1 should be sharp; G of trombone 2 should be sharp
Bar 135: top note of bassoon 1 should perhaps be D rather than F sharp (cf. 143, 176)
Bars 181-2, 185: staccato markings in the second part of the bar for flutes, oboes, clarinets perhaps a mistake for slurs, which is how the passage is phrased otherwise
Bar 255, bassoons first beat: should probably be playing B flat not A, following the cello line (only the double basses keep the pedal A an octave lower)
Bars 262 to end (last page of the manuscript): the triangle part has been mistakenly copied from the timpani part; the rhythm played by the cymbals and bass drum has been restored instead

It is not possible to prove (or indeed disprove) Berlioz’s authorship of the orchestration of the march. But it is at least plausible that Berlioz should be its author; apart from the general arguments adduced by Pierre-René Serna a few characteristics may be pointed to in support. There is the general economy in the orchestral writing, which introduces instruments gradually and for cumulative effect: the piece starts off with wind and horns only, then introduces the upper strings one by one and quietly from bar 13 onwards. The lower strings only come in at bar 31. The trumpets and cornets are introduced at bar 36, while trombones and ophicleid are kept till later (first at bar 54). The percussion writing is particularly notable for its restraint and effectiveness. The timpani enter quietly at bar 28 with the marking ‘baguettes d’éponges’ (frequently used by Berlioz). The bass drum enters on its own at bars 170-177, again quietly and unexpectedly off-beat. The full complement of percussion instruments is not used till bar 199, and the stress from cymbals and bass drum on the weak beat in bars 220-6 is noteworthy. Attention might also be drawn to the pizzicato passages in bars 128-31, 136-9 and 170-3, which again recall Berlioz’s practice.

The manuscript does not have any metronome mark; the tempo has been set here at crotchet = 112.

Marche d’Isly (duration 4'51")
(file created on 16.06.2007)

Back to Berlioz Music Scores