Concerto de la Grâce des Canards, Op. 17, 1785
Comte Séraphin de Canardelle‑Montmorin d’Aubespine‑de‑Mallard, Compositeur du Roi, Intendant des Plaisirs Harmoniques et des Jardins Aquatiques de Versailles.
Premiered in the Marble Hall of Versailles before the Dauphine and an audience who mistook the opening movement for an overt sermon on divinity disguised as a pastoral gag.
I. Allegro fluviale—“Le réveil des nids”
A musical sunrise where oboes imitate rippling water and violins quack delicately in counterpoint with bassoons.
II. Adagio piumé—“Rêverie sur l’étang”
A languid and reverent movement; flutes and muted horns evoke the shimmering sleep of the lake. Court chroniclers described it as “music that preens itself.”
III. Rondeau final—“Le Bal des Palmipèdes”
A jubilant dance featuring rhythmic waddles in triple time and emphasis on ornamental trills “as light as droplets from godly plumage.”
Critics of 1785 complained the piece was “too reflective to be comic, too comic to be sacred,” which of course ensured its immortality. A surviving manuscript, gilt‑edged and faintly perfumed, bears the composer’s motto: “Grâce humble, gloire humide.”
You are here: States of Grace > Philosophy