Les Danses

Les Danses, Opus 74, No. 4 (1919)

Vincent D’Indy (1851 -1931)

SATB or AATB Saxophone Quartet

Les Danses by Vincent D’Indy arranged for Saxophone Quartet SATB or AATB. This is the fourth section of “Pour les enfants de tout age” (For Children of All Ages), a set of twenty four piano pieces D’Indy published in 1919. Les Danses takes the form of a pair of renaissance dances. They are titled Pavane for the Queen of France and Gaillarde. The pavane is slow, stately, and a little bit somber while the gaillarde is fast and lively. Both pieces are written in “expanded” time signatures; the pavane is in duple meter but is in 4/2 instead of the more common 2/2 and the gaillarde, commonly in 6/8, is written here in 6/4. Although the pieces are sixteenth century dance forms, the harmonies are very much early twentieth century.

This arrangement is for SATB or AATB Saxophone Quartet.

• The range for each saxophone part is shown below.
• Audio and score excerpts are available above.
• Registered users can download a complete sample score and full length audio file of Les Danses on the ‘Samples’ tab.