Compositions

The Fantasy on Themes from the Opera Mazeppa by Clémence de Grandval, a French late-romantic composer, is a concert paraphrase of the kind that used to be written often in the 19th century. The opera itself may never be brought to the limelight again, but the score contains many a beautiful moment and I have tried to rescue these from oblivion in the form of a keyboard fantasia.

This fantasy on themes from Massenet’s opera Thaïs broadly follows the action. The instrumental section from the first act, in which Massenet paints the Roman city Alexandria as it stretches along the Mediterranean, is followed by the well-known  Méditation de Thaïs and sections of the ballet music from the second act. From the third act are derived the beautiful love duet and the repetition of the Méditation, now, however, developed more dramatically.