Burlesque - Burlesque in Music - Classical Music

Classical Music

Beginning in the early 18th century, the term burlesque was used throughout Europe to describe musical works in which serious and comic elements were juxtaposed or combined to achieve a grotesque effect. As derived from literature and theatre, "burlesque" was used, and is still used, in music to indicate a bright or high-spirited mood, sometimes in contrast to seriousness.

In this sense of farce and exaggeration rather than parody, it appears frequently on the German-language stage between the middle of the 19th century and the 1920s. Burlesque operettas were written by Johann Strauss II (Die lustigen Weiber von Wien, 1868), Ziehrer (Mahomed's Paradies,1866; Das Orakel zu Delfi, 1872; Cleopatra, oder Durch drei Jahrtausende, 1875; In fünfzig Jahren, 1911) and Bruno Granichstaedten (Casimirs Himmelfahrt, 1911). French references to burlesque are less common than German, though Grétry composed for a "drame burlesque" (Matroco, 1777). Stravinsky called his 1916 one-act chamber opera-ballet Renard (The Fox) a "Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée" (burlesque tale sung and played). A later example is the 1927 burlesque operetta by Ernst Krenek entitled Schwergewicht (Heavyweight) (1927).

Some orchestral and chamber works have also been designated as burlesques, of which two early examples are the Ouverture-Suite Burlesque de Quixotte, TWV 55, by Telemann and the Sinfonia Burlesca by Leopold Mozart (1760). Another often-performed piece is Richard Strauss's 1890 Burleske for piano and orchestra. Other examples include the following:

• 1901: Six Burlesques, Op. 58 for piano four hands by Max Reger
• 1904: Scherzo Burlesque, Op. 2 for piano and orchestra by Béla Bartók
• 1911: Three Burlesques, Op. 8c for piano by Bartók
• 1920: Burlesque for Piano, by Arnold Bax
• 1931: Ronde burlesque, Op. 78 for orchestra by Florent Schmitt
• 1932: Fantaisie burlesque, for piano by Olivier Messiaen
• 1956: Burlesque for Piano and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 13g by Bertold Hummel
• 1982: Burlesque for Wind Quintet, Op. 76b by Hummel

Burlesque can be used to describe particular movements of instrumental musical compositions, often involving dance rhythms. Examples are the Burlesca, in Partita No. 3 for keyboard (BWV 827) by Bach, the "Rondo-Burleske" third movement of Symphony No. 9 by Mahler, and the "Burlesque" fourth movement of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1.