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Félix Godefroid: Fête au village, Op.202 (1877)

574 views · Published 20 April 2016 · 3:01 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: PSearPianist · 2016 · Music

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Phillip Sear plays a musical depiction of a village festival by the Belgian composer Félix Godefroid (1818-1897).
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The composer, pianist and harpist Dieudonné-Félix Godefroid (1818-1897) was born in Namur, Belgium, but moved to France as a child and spent most of his life there. He was one of the outstanding performers of the 19th century, a virtuoso on both harp (for which he is mainly remembered) and piano. His harp works are still played, and you will find examples on YouTube, but his piano works are largely forgotten.  This is a shame because he was a superb composer, and his piano pieces could easily appear with credit to provide variety in (say) a Chopin recital.  Near the beginning of this video I show the cover art - and you will notice the church in the background.  Thanksgiving for good harvests etc. is often depicted in musical evocations of rustic revelries, and the most famous is, of course, Beethoven's Pastoral symphony.  In Godefroid's piece, the dancing is interrupted by church bells in a remote key, and a solemn, slightly liturgical melody.  The dancing soon resumes though.  The piece is dedicated to Laure Tailhardat, who (as far as I can tell) was - like her sister Angële - a pianist who put on concerts in Paris in the 1860s.  They seem to have championed the music of Peter Benoit, so may have been Flemish.

My thumbnail shows a detail from 'A Village Fair (Village festival in Honour of Saint Hubert and Saint Anthony)' by Pieter Brueghel II (The Younger).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Played by Phillip Sear
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