Charles Koechlin

Le Portrait de Daisy Hamilton op. 140 Heft 4

Finally, the music of Charles Koechlin is no longer an insider tip, but is being discovered both for the concert hall and the CD! With our edition we now present a widely unknown facet of his work. For hardly anyone knows that Koechlin turned to film at an already advanced age. Although Koechlin was aware that there was no prospect of cinematic realization, he even designed a film scenario in 20 scenes in which he himself was to appear in a double role! At the age of 66, he saw the actress Lilian Harvey as Princess Marie-Christine in Princesse à vos ordres in a Paris movie theater. He was so enchanted that he composed for her the little pieces Le Portrait de Daisy Hamilton - ravishing miniatures not written as film music but triggered by film experiences. Three volumes of the unfinished compositions Le Portrait de Daisy Hamilton, notated on two to four lines, have already been published by Schott; now we are publishing two volumes, each with eight pieces for flute and piano and for clarinet and piano, respectively. Two more booklets (11 pieces for piano and string quartet and 10 pieces for string sextet) will follow. With the total of seven planned booklets, Charles Koechlin's last still unpublished works from the environment of the film will finally be accessible to posterity.