Trois Nocturnes

LEsperance
Les Regrets
Le Calme
Composes

Pour le Piano
par

Henri Bertini jeune

17981876
Op. 87

c 2007 by James L. Bailey

Copyright
Non-commercial copying welcome
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Henri J
er
ome Bertini 17981876
Henri Jerome Bertini was born in London on October 28, 1798, but his family returned to Paris six months later.
He received his early musical education from his father and his brother, a pupil of Clementi. He was considered a
child prodigy and at the age of 12 his father took him on a tour of England, Holland, Flanders, and Germany where
he was enthusiastically received. After studies in composition in England and Scotland he was appointed professor of
music in Brussells but returned to Paris in 1821. It is known that Bertini gave a concert with Franz Liszt in the Salons
Pape on April 20, 1828. The program included a transcription by Bertini of Beethovens Symphony No. 7 in A major
for eight hands (the other pianists were Sowinsky and Schunke.) He was also admired as a chamber music performer,
giving concerts with his friends Fontaine (violin) and Franchomme (cello). He remained active in and around Paris
until around 1848 when he retired from the musical scene. In 1859 he moved to Meylan (near Grenoble) where he died
on September 30, 1876.
Bertini concertized widely but was not as celebrated a virtuoso as either Kalkbrenner or Henri Herz. One of his
contempories (Marmontel) described his playing as having Clementis evenness and clarity in rapid passages as well as
the quality of sound, the manner of phrasing, and the ability to make the instrument sing characteristic of the school of

Hummel and Moschel`es. Thomas Tapper, in the preface of his edition of the Etudes
Op.100 published by Ditson, says:
He was in his time a shining example of the most admirable qualities of an artist. Living in an age of garish
virtuosity, and hailed as a brilliant executant himself, he maintained nevertheless the most rigorous standards
of musicianship in his playing, in his compositions, and in the music which he appeared before the public to
interpret. This is the more remarkable when one considers that his manhood was reached during the luxuriant
period of French romanticism and that the extravagances of the literary outburst were reflected in the musical
movements of the time. Virtuosity was subjected to sore temptations and many succumbed. Bertini stood for
the sounder qualities of the artist and gradually acquired an extended and remunerative prestige. His life was
singularly devoid of incident and official distinction, but the legacy of pedagogic works which he has left to us
and his honorable activity give it every right to be called a success.
Bertini was celebrated as a teacher. Antoine Marmontel, who devoted the second chapter of his work on celebrated
pianists to Bertini, writes
He was unsurpassed as a teacher, giving his lessons with scrupulous care and the keenest interest in his pupils
progress. After he had given up teaching, a number of his pupils continued with me, and I recognized the
soundness of the principles drawn from his instruction.
It is above all in the special class of studies and caprices, that Bertinis immense popularity is founded. It
is here that he occupied a unique position and opened the path over which the next generation of composers
was to rush after him. In each of his numerous collections of studies, embracing every degree of difficulty, he
has insistently given to every piece, easy or difficult, brief or extended, a character of salient melody. The
technical problem to be overcome presents itself as a song; even where the study is devoted to the problem
of velocity the general contour falls into a melodic curve, and this is the first and transcendent cause of the
universal success of these pieces, which are, furthermore, natural in respect to rhythm and carefully thought
out harmonically.
Robert Schumann, in a review of a piano trio in the Gesammelte Schriften, comments that Bertini writes easily
flowing harmony but that the movements are too long. He continues: With the best will in the world, we find it
difficult to be angry with Bertini, yet he drives us to distraction with his perfumed Parisian phrases; all his music is as
smooth as silk and satin.1 German sentimentality has never appreciated French elegance.
Bertini is best remembered today for his piano method Le Rudiment du pianiste, and his 20 books of approximately
500 studies.
For more information on the life of Bertini, see Henri Bertini pianiste virtuose, compositeur de musique (Grenoble,
1999) by Pascal Beyls (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pascal.beyls/bertini/bertini.html).

from Cobbetts Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, Second Edition, Volume 1, page 124.

Trois Nocturnes Op. 87 : LEsp

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Henri Bertini jeune (17981876)

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Le Calme
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Editorial Notes

The present edition is based on a collection of pieces by Bertini which I bought in northern France from a used
book store. The pages measure 25.5 cm 34 cm. The compositions were obviously bought separately and later bound
together. It contains the following:
Grande Fantaisie Etude, Op. 46. 24 pages.
Variations de Concert (for piano and string orchestra), Op. 69. 14 pages.
Trois Nocturnes (LEsperance, 4 pages, Les Regrets, 8 pages, Le Calme, 4 pages), Op. 87.
Grande Polonaise (for piano and orchestra or string quartet ad libitum), Op. 93. 19 pages.
Deux Nocturnes (A Toi!!! et La Solitude), Op. 102. 8 pages.
Grand Rondo de Concert (piano and orchestra or string quartet ad libitum), Op. 105. 20 pages.
Dellaura tua Profetica, Varie pour le Piano, Op. 106. 14 pages.
Solo pour le Concours de lEcole Royale de Musique, Annee 1836, Op. 109. 16 pages.
Grande Fantaisie sur une cavatine par Rubini dans La Straniera, Op. 113. 22 pages.
Grande Fantaisie Dramatique, Op. 118. 22 pages.
2e Solo pour le Concours de lEcole Royale de Musique, Annee 1838, Op. 121. 19 pages.
All were published by Henry Lemoine except the first which was published by S. Richault.
As time permits I intend to typeset all these pieces and make them available at the Werner Icking Music
Archive. Although the three compositions for piano and strings can be played as solo piano pieces I would greatly
appreciate it if someone could supply me with the string parts so I can make them available as well.
Revisions
No attempt has been made to indicate the line or page breaks. Accidentals which are in parentheses are not
found in the original; accidentals which are redundant because they occur earlier in the bar, either in the original or
editorial, have been silently dropped. In addition, the following changes have been made:
Les Regrets
bar 117, left hand: eighth b83 is b83.
bar 138, left hand, first beat: no e44
Approximate timings:
LEsperance: 4:15
Les Regrets: 5:15
Le Calme: 2:45
James L. Bailey
College of the Rockies
Cranbrook, BC, Canada
bailey@cotr.bc.ca
August 7, 2007

Trois Nocturnes Op. 87 No. 3 Le Calme, by Henri Bertini

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