Jacques Offenbach

Barcarolle

This arrangement was written in Offenbach's anniversary year 2019 for the highly acclaimed CD (Sony) of the young star soloist Raphaela Gromes with chamber music for cello, the instrument the composer loved and played like none other. In addition to unknown, sometimes virtuoso, sometimes contemplative new discoveries, the album should not be without the master's hit melody: Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann, which begins with the immortal cello solo. And so Gromes' piano partner Julian Riem created this delightful new version for two cellos and piano especially for this CD. What some people do not know is that the melody actually comes from an earlier work by Offenbach, the romantic opera Les Fées du Rhin, where it is the musical hallmark of the eponymous nature spirits.