Bouchara

Portrait of Claude Vivier c. 1982

Bouchara (subtitled "chanson d'amour") is a 1981 work for mixed chamber ensemble by Canadian composer Claude Vivier. It was originally intended to serve as an interlude for his unfinished opera Rêves d'un Marco Polo (1983-), but was published independently of the opera after weeks of deliberation. A typical performance lasts around twelve minutes.

Composition

The piece was premiered on 14 February 1983, at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, France.

Program notes

The notes given by Vivier in the finished manuscript:

Bouchara se veut une longue chanson d'amour... le texte entier est une langue inventée, une langue d'amour, histoire se répétant éternellement.
Bouchara is meant to be a long love song... the entire text is sung in an invented language, a language of love, a story which repeats itself continually.

Instrumentation

The work is written for a mixed ensemble of solo soprano, wind quintet, string quintet, and percussion battery.

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