The Song
In 1792, Gaspard de Chenu, a writer of spiritual and satirical songs, wrote the song "Cadet Rousselle" to the tune of a song by Jean de Nivelle. The song spread beyond the limits of the city when volunteers from Auxerre introduced it to the Armée du Nord. It later spread through all levels of society.
John Ireland, Arnold Bax, Frank Bridge and Eugene Goossens wrote Variations on 'Cadet Rousselle' (1919) as an encore piece for voice and piano. This composite work was later orchestrated by Goossens for small orchestra (1930).
Cadet Rouselle was also used by Tchaikovsky in his ballet The Nutcracker, along with other children's songs.
Read more about this topic: Cadet Rousselle
Famous quotes containing the word song:
“but you are not deaf,
you pick out
your own song from the uproar
line by line,
and at last throw back
your head and sing it.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“She sang a song that sounds like life; I mean it was sad. Délira knew no other types of songs. She didn’t sing loud, and the song had no words. It was sung with closed lips and it stayed down in one’s throat.... Life is what taught them, these Negresses, to sing as if they were choking back sobs. It is a song that always ends with a beginning anew because this song is the picture of misery, and tell me, does misery ever end?”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)