The ''Petite Suite'' is a suite of seven piano pieces, written by

Alexander Borodin Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as " The Five", a group dedicated to prod ...

, and acknowledged as his major work for the piano.Classical Archives
/ref> It was published in 1885, although some of the pieces had been written as far back as the late 1870s. After Borodin's death,

Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov ( – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was instrumental i ...

orchestrated the work, and added his orchestration of another of Borodin's pieces as an eighth number. The suite was dedicated to the Belgian Countess Louise de Mercy-Argenteau, who had been instrumental in having Borodin's First Symphony performed in

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

. She had also arranged for French translations of some of his songs and excerpts from ''

Prince Igor ''Prince Igor'' (, ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the early Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which recounts the campaign of the 12th-centur ...

''; and had initiated the sponsorship of

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

and

Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray (2 February 1840 – 4 July 1910) was a French Breton composer, pianist, and professor of music history/theory at the Conservatoire de Paris as well as a Prix de Rome laureate. He was born at Nantes and died at ...

for Borodin's membership of the French Society of Authors, Composers and Editors.Eric Blom ed., ''Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed, 1954; Vol. 1, p. 822 Borodin's original title for the work was ''Petit Poème d'amour d'une jeune fille'' ("Little poems on the love of a young girl"), but by publication time the name ''Petite Suite'' had been applied to it. The original suite consisted of the following 7 movements, with descriptions supplied by the composer: # Au couvent, Andante religioso, C-sharp minor ("The Church's vows foster thoughts only of God") # Intermezzo, Tempo di minuetto, F major ("Dreaming of Society Life") # Mazurka I, Allegro, C major ("Thinking only of dancing") # Mazurka II, Allegretto, D-flat major ("Thinking both of the dance and the dancer") # Rêverie, Andante, D-flat major ("Thinking only of the dance") # Serenade, Allegretto, D-flat major ("Dreaming of love") # Nocturne, Andantino, G-flat major ("Lulled by the happiness of being in love”). After Borodin's death in 1887,

orchestrated the suite, but incorporated into it another piano piece by Borodin, the Scherzo in A-flat major, and slightly rearranged the order of the pieces. # Au couvent # Intermezzo # Mazurka I # Mazurka II # Rêverie # Serenade # Finale: Scherzo (Allegro vivace, A-flat major) - Nocturne - ScherzoFull score by E.F.Kalmus & Co. Inc.

References

{{Authority control 1885 compositions Compositions for solo piano Compositions by Alexander Borodin Piano compositions in the Romantic era Piano compositions by Russian composers Suites (music) Orchestral suites