Search - Georges Bizet, Jacques Delacôte, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra :: Bizet: Symphony in C; L'Arlésienne Suites

Bizet composed two orchestral symphonies, both in the key of C Major, the second of which often appears on concert programs and recordings under the name of Roma. The composer himself always referred to this work as his first symphony, and indeed the real first symphony remained unpublished during his lifetime. The manuscript of the earlier work was discovered as late as 1933, received its first performance two years later, and has since been hailed as a teenage masterpiece. Daudet's play L'Arlésienne was, in his words, "a dazzling failure with the most charming music in the world." Bizet composed 27 separate numbers for the play and compiled the First Suite, rescoring the original theater band versions for full orchestra. The Second Suite was put together after Bizet's death by the composer Ernest Guiraud, a friend of Bizet's who had occasionally played offstage harmonium in the original productions of L'Arlésienne.