Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Trois Ritournelles (string quartet)

Title: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Comédie-Ballet (1670), Trois Ritournelles

Composer: Jean Baptiste Lully, arr. David Gable

Instrumentation: Violin 1; Violin 2; Viola; Cello

Printout: 4 pages

Note: Lully  teamed up with Moliere to create the Comédie-Ballet The Bourgois Gentleman. The work has elements of ballet and opera integrated into a stage play. These three ritournelles are heard in Act I, where they serve as interludes between chansons. The vocal sections have been omitted, but the three instrumental sequences create a very nice mini-suite, with a stately opening in French overture style, a plaintive and evocative middle section, and a spirited if brief finale. Both violin parts can be played on flute or oboe.