French Suite: Concert Band, Full Score

The FRENCH SUITE is actually a one-movement Rondo based on five typical French folksongs: 1. La Chasse - "La Trompe sonne dans les bois" ("The Horn sounds in the forest") - Horns play in unison. Hunting should be for the pleasure of kings only.; 2. La Belle - "Belle qui tiens ma vie captive" ("O Beauty, who holds my life captive") - This 16th century pavane, an elegant court dance of the late Renaissance, can be heard today in churches as a hymn.; 3. A Brass Trio - "Chevaliers de la Table Ronde" ("Knights of the Round Table") - A song of the king of wine drivers, who wishes to be buried in a wine cellar.; 4. Played by all woodwinds, then brass, then both combined - "Les Cloches de Nantes" - While "The Bells of Nantes" toll for the execution of a young man, his lover helps him to escape from prison.; 5. "Aupres de ma Blonde" ("Close to my Blonde") - A girl is offering the towers of Notre Dame, Versailles, and the whole city of Paris for the return of her friend from captivity in Holland.