Melodie - Elegie Op.10 No.5 op. 10/5

The Élégie by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) was perhaps one of the most popular melodies in Europe of the fin de siècle, the last decades of the nineteenth century, often referred to as the Belle Epoque. Massenet originally composed Élégie in 1866 for a piano cycle titled Pièces de Genre, Op. 10 Nº 5. In 1872, he incorporated the piece into Les Erinnyes (The Furies), a play by Leconte de Lisle. The sorrowful melody for muted cello became a solo piece entitled Mélodie-Elégie and was arranged numerous times for many instruments and instrumental ensembles. At some point it was adapted to the lyrics ‘O doux printemps d’autrefois’ by Louis Gallet (1698?-1757). The present arrangement by the Catalan guitarist Jaime Bosch (1826-1895), mainly known in France as Jacques Bosch, was published in 1891 in Paris by the Vve. E. Girod, the successor of the original publisher of the cello and piano version, E. et A. Girod, 16 Boulevard Montmarte (pl. nr. 5499). The guitar arrangement seems to have been a hastily prepared edition, employing the original cover page of the cello and piano edition, with a new rubber stamp marking it as Edition pour Guitare (pl. nr. 6203). The guitar version does not contain any dynamics and articulations, and skips the initial two measures of Introduction played originally on the piano. The paucity of fingering indications is at a great contrast to other guitar editions of the period. The present edition is fully fingered, contains all the dynamics markings from the original edition, and the missing two bars of the Introduction have been added editorially.