Do French Composers Write the Best Spanish Music?

The University Symphony Orchestra (USO) opens the new year with a program entitled The French Connection, featuring Spanish-themed orchestral masterpieces written by 19th century French composers. In a vibrant program of works by George Bizet, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, and Jules Massenet, the audience will be invited to ponder the question of whether French composers wrote the best Spanish music. The concert takes place Saturday, January 27 at 8 p.m.

Bizet’s Carmen, one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the classical canon, shattered the operatic conventions of its time with its groundbreaking realism. Set in southern Spain, the opera is also the font of many of widely-recognized arias and ensembles, including the “Toréador Song” and the “Danse Bohème”. Alongside Carmen the USO will present ballet excerpts from Massenet’s opera Le Cid, which expertly capture the flavor of Spain through their colorful orchestration, judicious percussion effects, and lively dance rhythms.

Debussy’s exquisite tone poem Iberia forms the centerpiece of the program. The most popular of Debussy’s three Images pour Orchestre, Iberia evokes a picturesque and evocative impression of Spain – despite the fact that the composer himself never visited that country before writing the piece. The three-movement tone poem is one of Debussy’s most highly acclaimed creations. The concert concludes with Fauré’s spirited miniature Le pas espagnol, the final piece of his Dolly Suite.

The performance takes place on Saturday, January 27 at 8 p.m. in Mandel Hall, 1131 East 57th Street, on the University of Chicago campus. Admission is free. Donations are requested at the door: $10 general, $5 students and children. For more information visit music.uchicago.edu or call 773-702-8069.