Dolly, Op.56

Kitty-Valse: tempo di valse

Tendresse: andante

Le pas espagnol: allegro

Emma Bardac - talented amateur singer, wife of a banker, mistress of Gabriel Fauré, second wife of Claude Debussy - had two daughters: Hélène, nicknamed Dolly, by her first marriage and Emma-Claude, nicknamed Chouchou, by second marriage. Scoring a unique double, Dolly became the dedicatee of Fauré’s Dolly in 1897 and, eleven years later, her half-sister Chouchou was similarly immortalised by the dedication of Debussy’s Children’s Corner.

Dolly, a set of six piano duets, was assembled over a period of four years, beginning with the Berceuse which was published separately in 1893. As the comparatively recent discovery of a manuscript dated 1864 has revealed, however, the Berceuse was in existence long before Dolly was born. So she can scarcely be said to have inspired it. On the other hand, we do have her to thank for the fact that her arrival moved the composer to resurrect a piece which he had written not far short of forty years earlier and which might not otherwise have come to light in his lifetime. Certainly, La Chanson dans le jardin, as it was originally called, makes a most delightful berceuse (or cradle song) and it is in that form that it has become the most famous of all Fauré’s compositions. The contrastingly debonair second movement Mi-a-ou has nothing to do with cats: the present title arises from a publisher’s misreading or misunderstanding of Fauré’s manuscript which is actually headed “Messieu Aoul!,” the two-year-old Dolly’s approximation to “Monsieur Raoul” as she called her elder brother.

Le Jardin de Dolly, a New Year present for 1895, contains a surprisingly expressive middle section between innocently idyllic outer sections. The next piece Kitty-valse, written for Dolly’s fourth birthday in 1896, is no more about cats than Mi-a-ou: the title derives from another misreading of a manuscript which actually bears the name of Monsieur Raoul’s dog Ketty. A stylish waltz with just a hint of Tchaikovsky in the middle, it effectively offsets the longest and most emotional of the six movements, Tendresse, which must have been addressed at least in part to Dolly’s mother Emma. Le pas espagnol is at once a tribute to Fauré’s late friend Chabrier (composer of España) and a smart salute to the equestrian bronze which occupied a central place both on the Bardacs’ mantelpiece and in Dolly’s affections.

Dolly Suite, Op.56

orchestrated by Henri Rabaud (1873-1949)

Berceuse: Allegretto moderato

Mi-a-ou: Allegro vivo

Le jardin de Dolly: Andantino

Kitty-Valse: Tempo di valse

Tendresse: Andante

Le pas espagnol: Allegro

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Dolly Suite, Op.56

orchestrated by Henri Rabaud (1873-1949)

Berceuse: Allegretto moderato

Mi-a-ou: Allegro vivo

Le jardin de Dolly: Andantino

Kitty-Valse: Tempo di valse

Tendresse: Andante

Le pas espagnol: Allegro

Emma Bardac – talented amateur singer, wife of a banker, mistress of Gabriel Fauré, second wife of Claude Debussy – had two daughters: Hélène, nicknamed Dolly, by her first marriage and Emma-Claude, nicknamed Chouchou, by second marriage. Scoring a unique double, Dolly became the dedicatee of Fauré’s Dolly in 1897 and, eleven years later, her half-sister Chouchou was similarly immortalised by the dedication of Debussy’s Children’s Corner.

Dolly, a set of six piano duets, was assembled over a period of four years, beginning with the Berceuse which was published separately in 1893. The orchestral version by Henri Rabaud, who was to succeed Fauré as Director of the Paris Conservatoire in 1920, was first performed as the Dolly Suite at Monte Carlo in 1906 and was adopted as the score for a ballet (about a spoiled child called Dolly!) in 1913 – on which occasion Rabaud’s orchestration was praised by Ravel for “its most ingenious tact and flexibility.”

As the comparatively recent discovery of a manuscript dated 1864 has revealed, the Berceuse was in existence long before Dolly was born. So she can scarcely be said to have inspired it. On the other hand, we do have her to thank for the fact that her arrival moved the composer to resurrect a piece which he had written not far short of forty years earlier and which might otherwise never have come to light in his lifetime. Certainly, La Chanson dans le jardin, as it was originally called, makes a most delightful cradle song and it is in that form that it has become the most famous of all Fauré’s compositions. The contrastingly debonair second movement Mi-a-ou has nothing to do with cats: the present title arises from a publisher’s misreading or misunderstanding of Fauré’s manuscript which is actually headed “Messieu Aoul!,” the two-year-old Dolly’s approximation to “Monsieur Raoul” as she called her elder brother.

Le Jardin de Dolly, a New Year present for 1895, contains a surprisingly expressive middle section – handsomely introduced by cellos in Rabaud’s orchestration – between innocently idyllic outer sections. The next piece Kitty-valse, written for Dolly’s fourth birthday in 1896, is no more about cats than Mi-a-ou: the title derives from another misreading of a manuscript which actually bears the name of Raoul’s dog Ketty. A stylish waltz with just a hint of Tchaikovsky in the middle, it effectively offsets the longest and most emotional of the six movements, Tendresse, which must have been addressed at least in part to Dolly’s mother Emma. Le Pas espagnol is at once a tribute to Fauré’s late friend Chabrier (composer of España) and a smart salute to the equestrian bronze which occupied a central place both on the Bardacs’ mantelpiece and in Dolly’s affections.