Jules Massenet
Meditation
Short instrumentation: 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0, hp, str
Duration: 5'
Bearbeitet von: Luukas Hiltunen
Instrumentation details:
harp
violin I (10 players)
violin II (8 players)
viola (6 players)
violoncello (4 players)
double bass (2 players)
Meditation
Sample pages
Video
Work introduction
For the general public, the French composer Jules Massenet (1842–1912) is known of his symphonic intermezzo Méditation from the opera Thaïs (1894, revised 1898). The piece has established itself as one of the greatest encore pieces, not only among the violinists but other instrumentalists as well. The rest of the music from the opera is virtually forgotten and only seldomly produced within an opera houses.
In the Spring of 2019 Lahti Conservatory, where Mr. Luukas Hiltunen had studied from August 2016 to May 2018 resulting a graduation as a professional musician, commissioned him to prepare an arrangements for harp and string orchestra of Pietro Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana and Jules Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs. The world premiere performances took place on 12 February 2020 at the Lahti Concert House’s Felix Krohn Hall, presented by the conservatory’s most advanced ensemble, the New Lahti Chamber Orchestra. The performance was conducted by Janne Saarinen, violinist Juliana Pöyry played the solo passage. The source for the reduction was the composer’s original instrumentation for full orchestra.