Hector Berlioz - Sara la baigneuse, H 69 (1850)

Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer. His output includes orchestral works such as the Symphonie fantastique and Harold in Italy, choral pieces including the Requiem and L'Enfance du Christ, his three operas Benvenuto Cellini, Les Troyens and Béatrice et Bénédict, and works of hybrid genres such as the "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette and the "dramatic legend" La Damnation de Faust.

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Sara la baigneuse, Op. 11, H 69 (1834 Version A (lost), 1838 B (lost), 1850 C, D)
Librettist: Victor Hugo (1802–1885)

1. (0:00)
2. (6:52) Same performance but with alternative score for two voices which makes for a better reading of the lyrics in the YouTube format.

Choeur Les Éléments and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse
conducted by Michel Plasson.

Hector Berlioz undertook to compose a melody on Sara la baigneuse, a poem by Victor Hugo from Les Orientales, in August 1834, while he was completing Benvenuto Cellini's "Chœur des ciseleurs".

The melody was first composed for vocal quartet and orchestra. Berlioz may have sung the bass himself at the first public performance on 9 November 1834 in the Salle du Conservatoire, under the direction of Narcisse Girard. Subsequently, Sara la baigneuse was revised for vocal quartet, choir and orchestra on 13 December 1840, then for triple choir (STBB–SA–TTBB) and orchestra, definitive version premiered under the composer's direction, on 22 October 1850.

The score was published in February 1850.

The catalogue of Berlioz's works compiled by the American musicologist Dallas Kern Holoman presents successive versions of Sara la baigneuse, Allegretto grazioso (dotted black = 44) in A major to 3/8, published by the composer as Op. 11:

H69 A, for male vocal quartet and orchestra (lost)
H69 B, for mixed choir (STTB soloists, STB) and orchestra (lost)
H69 C, for triple choir and orchestra,
H69 D, reduction for soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto and piano.
The orchestra includes 2 large flutes and small flute, oboe soloist, 2 clarinets and 2 bassoons, for the wind sections. The brass instruments are limited to 3 horns (2 in E, the 3rd in low A) and the percussion to the timpani alone (tuned to A and C sharp). The classical string quintet is composed of first violins, second violins, violas, cellos and double basses.