This is a charming minor work of the late Romantic era, by one of the generation of Frenchmen strongly affected by trips to Bayreuth to hear Wagner's operas. It has the rich harmonic ambience of Wagner's music, but the clarity of orchestration of the French and an interest in tone color that descended to d'Indy from Hector Berlioz.

It is very attractive and melodic, though as a concerted piece shorter than a concerto, as a piece for woodwind rather than a string soloist, and as a piece that is not actually a virtuoso display piece, it misses on many criteria for frequent performances. Nevertheless, most listeners would like it.

It also joins a general interest in folklore that was current in the Romantic era. This was a different sort of interest than arose following the meticulously collected and studies work of such ethnomusicologists as Child, Vaughan Williams, Bartók, and Kodály. Most Romantic composers who used them tended to view folk themes as picturesque, and harmonized them as though they were fully classical themes.

When d'Indy wrote this 14-minute mini-concerto for oboe and orchestra he was on vacation in his favorite retreat of Chabret. He wrote it as a break from his labors on the long-gestating opera Fervaal, accepted by most critics as his magnum opus.

The work uses four themes, three of which are genuine folk or popular songs. The fourth, that of the slow introduction, is of his own invention. The orchestral style and harmonization are affected by his trip that summer to the Bayreuth Festival, where he heard Die Meistersinger and Parsifal.

The Fantasy received its premiere at the Concerts Lamoureux on December 23, 1888.

© All Music Guide