At about the time he composed this piano suite in 1912, Griffes had just moved beyond the Germanic style in which he had been trained, adopting a colorful language similar in effect to mood to French Impressionism. The piano music he wrote at this time is among the finest of American music for keyboard. The Fantasy-Pieces are in three movements: Barcarolle, Notturno, and Scherzo. The last of these pieces was orchestrated by Griffes seven years later under the title "Bacchanale." As such, it is one of the most exciting short orchestral works of its type. In either form, fine music.

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1.Barcarolle

Charles Griffes' Barcarolle is one in a set of three piano pieces. Although at this point in his writing, he was departing from his training in German Romanticism, and moving toward Impressionism, the Barcarolle is, of the three pieces, more German-like in style. The three pieces in the Op. 6 Fantasy set are: Barcarolle, No. 1 (composed in 1912), Notturno, No. 2 (1915), and Scherzo, No. 3 (1913). It's interesting that Griffes put these three piano pieces together as a set since they were all written in different years. Perhaps because Griffes wrote the Barcarolle earlier, it is more similar to the German style than the Impressionist style, as the other two are.

Barcarolle has a text that is connected with the piece. In 1915, Griffes chose texts for all three pieces of the set. For Barcarolle, Griffes chose two poems of Fiona MacLeod (a pseudonym for William Sharp [1855 - 1905]) and put them together for the one piece. For the second piece, he chose a text of poet Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), and for the third in the series, Griffes wrote a short text of his own. This Scherzo is the only composition of Griffes' in which he wrote a poetic passage to connect with one of his pieces.

The barcarolle is in 6/8 time, as is most music in this particular form; barcarolles came from the time of the Venetian gondoliers. Despite its rhythmic nature, Griffes' Barcarolle sounds nothing like a boat song. It employs bitonality, is contrapuntal, and is noticeably structured. The main melodic theme is interlaced throughout the piece, and is lyrical in quality. The piece starts out with only one melodic line, but quickly becomes contrapuntal, then utilizes arpeggios in the lower chords, with a lovely melody line above them. The piece is in G flat major, but at one point combines the G flat major with E flat minor for a sample of bitonality. The bitonality comes as a sweet surprise. Then back to G flat major, in a large way, with many-note chords, followed by a passage of high arpeggios. The piece goes on like this, rhythmic and lovely, with a wide range of dynamics. The middle section has an almost haunting melody to it. Starting on measure 124, Griffes even interjects a canon consisting of the right and the left hand melodies. This is a beautiful section of the piece, especially so when one realizes what Griffes has done. It is pleasantly surprising to hear the short canon in which Griffes has manipulated the main theme to fit this contrapuntal rule. This is followed by heavy, forte chords, arpeggios, and an ending on an unusually dissonant chord.

The Barcarolle is one of Griffes' finer pieces, even though it was written rather early in his career. It is original, filled with movement and color, and beautiful, and provides a satisfying experience of an early Griffes piano composition.

© Sylvia Typaldos, All Music Guide

2.Notturno

Notturno, Op. 6/2, is the second of three Fantasy Pieces by Charles Griffes. The three pieces were not written in the expectation of putting them together as a set. As stated by Griffes in his diary, he began the Notturno on January 24, 1915, and finished it three days later on January 27, 1915. Scherzo, Op. 6/3, was also composed in 1915, while the other piece, Barcarolle, Op. 6/1, was written in 1912. The three pieces were placed together as a set when G. Schirmer published them in 1915.

Griffes' Notturno is a soft piece, full of lush arpeggios in the Impressionistic style, in the key of A flat major and in 3/4 time. The nocturne is leisurely and serene, fulfilling what would be expected of a nighttime, calming serenade. However, it is not tonal, it is in free-form fashion, and sometimes the accompaniment of the piano is in the high notes of the right hand, while the melody lies in the bass of the left hand. This gives the piece a wandering quality that propels it into the mood of the surrealistic interlude one often experiences just before falling asleep.

This piece does not depict a scene that Griffes chose before writing the music. Griffes chose the text that prefaces the composition after the piece was already written. Griffes spoke English, French, and German fluently, and so he was easily able to choose texts from other a variety of sources. The text he chose was from that of French poet Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896). Verlaine also leaned toward musicality in his lyrics, and so, once again, Griffes chose an appropriate passage to preface his piano work. The lines Griffes chose are from the poem, "La Lune Blanche," (The White Moon). The English translation of the few select lines of the poem are:

The pond reflects,

Profound mirror,

The silhouette

Of the black willow

Where the wind weeps...

Let us dream; it is the hour.

And so, the music of the Notturno (an Italian word, by the way), dreams in Impressionistic ambiguity, as an evening serenade should.

© Sylvia Typaldos, All Music Guide