Le Chant des chemins de fer
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Le Chant des chemins de fer (The Song of the Railways) is a cantata in B major by Hector Berlioz for tenor solo, choir and orchestra composed in June 1846 on lyrics by Jules Janin and premiered 14 June 1846 for the inauguration of the Gare de Lille.[1]
The work was commissioned by the city of Lille. According to his correspondence, Berlioz composed it in a hurry in three nights, interrupting the writing of La Damnation de Faust.
Berlioz, who travelled on the inaugural train, spent eight days in Lille and conducted Le Chant des chemins de fer and at the same time the finale of his Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale leading a military orchestra of 150 wind instrumentalists and singers from the Conservatoire de Lille.[2]
Berlioz had asked that the final chord be punctuated by a cannonade that could not take place.[3]
Lyrics
The text is by Jules Janin, a friend of Berlioz and Saint-Simonian.[4] Berlioz supposedly had been enthusiastic at that time about Saint-Simonianism.[5]
Music
The music is nervous and vigorous, the orchestration bouncing. The cantata also includes a prayer, andante religioso.
The whole may sound grandiloquent and heavy. The interpretation of the three verses and chorus takes about 9 minutes.
