6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76

• Chaminade published this set of six short piano pieces in 1893.¹
• Though the set is entitled “Romances sans paroles,” not “Chansons sans paroles,” the reference is to the Mendelssohnian genre of “Songs without words” (Lieder ohne Worte).²

In this set:³

1. Souvenance (“Remembrance”) 
2. Elevation (Since the Middle Ages, the term “elevation” in music refers to a piece of music written to be played or sung during the elevation of the Host, one of the central moments of the Catholic Mass. This title likely references that tradition, though not literally; piano music was not used in 19^th-century French Catholic liturgical music.)⁴
3. Idylle 
4. Eglogue (Also spelled eclogue, this genre indicates a piece of music with pastoral flavor; name derived from a classical Greco-Roman poem genre which featured conversations between shepherds.⁵
5. Chanson Bretonne 
6. Méditation 

Note: ENCO cut 42218 consists of three selections from Chaminade’s Op. 76: No. 1, “Souvenance,” No. 3 “Idylle,” and No. 6, “Méditation.” 

1. “6 Romances sans paroles (Chaminade, Cécile),” IMSLP, accessed July 21, https://imslp.org/wiki/6_Romances_sans_paroles%2C_Op.76_(Chaminade%2C_C%C3%A9cile).
2. Peter Dickinson, liner notes to Chaminade: Piano Works, Eric Parkin, Chandos 8888, CD, 1991.
3. “6 Romances sans paroles (Chaminade, Cécile),” IMSLP
4. John Caldwell and Bonnie J. Blackburn, “Elevation,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed July 21, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008705. 
5. Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4^th ed., s.v. “Eclogue” (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003).