{{Short description|Composition by Jean-Joseph Mouret}} {{italic title}} The '''''Suite of Symphonies for brass, strings & timpani No. 1''''' ('''''Suite De Symphonies, Première Suite de Symphonies''''') is a composition by Jean-Joseph Mouret.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://banjonews.com/2012-12/masterpiece_theatre_theme_fanfare.html|title = Banjo Newsletter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/track024.htm |title=Virtually Baroque: Mouret--Trumpet Fanfare |website=www.virtuallybaroque.com |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317022943/http://www.virtuallybaroque.com/track024.htm |archive-date=17 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The first movement of this piece, the rondeau, is widely known and commonly used in weddings, and notably on the PBS program ''Masterpiece''.<ref>Wright, Craig (2013). [https://books.google.com/books?id=TT8LAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 ''Listening to Western Music'']. p. 50. Cengage Learning. {{ISBN|1285546229}}</ref> Mouret composed this piece in 1729, while being the director for the Concert Spirituel, which was one of the first concert series known in existence.

== Structure == This piece is a four-movement work that consists of the ''Rondeau'', which is a piece of music where the main theme or melody is repeated several times throughout; the second movement is the ''Gracieusement sans lenteur''; the third movement is the ''Allegro''; the final movement being the ''Guay''.<ref name = "AM" />

== Background and premiere == The Symphony was written for Prince of Dombes, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, the grandson of King Louis XIV of France. Auguste had served under the military commander Prince Eugene of Savoy. Mouret dedicated this suite to his skill in battle, inspired by the Austro-Turkish War.<ref name = "AM">Morita, Patsy. [http://www.allmusic.com/composition/suite-of-symphonies-for-brass-strings-timpani-no-1-suite-de-fanfares--symphonies-fanfares-for-the-kings-supper-mc0002366111 "Jean-Joseph Mouret: Suite of Symphonies for brass, strings & timpani No. 1"]. AllMusic. Retrieved 25 March 2014.</ref> Mouret first played this piece for King Louis XV in the Palace of Versailles.<ref>{{cite web|last=N.A.|title=Premiere suite De Symphonies|url=http://www.broadwaybach.org/2011/03/premiere-suite-de-symphonies/|publisher=The Broadway Bach Ensemble|accessdate=March 17, 2014}}</ref>

==Fanfare-Rondeau legacy== This ''rondeau'' from the first ''Suite de Symphonies'' is well known as the theme from ''Masterpiece Theatre'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.music-scores.com/midi.php?sheetmusic=Mouret_Rondeau_piano|title = Rondeau. Fanfare from Masterpiece Theatre sheet music by Jean-Joseph Mouret}}</ref> and remains popular at weddings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/mouret-rondeau-classical-guitar|title = Mouret - Rondeau (Classical Guitar) by James Barrow - PremiumBeat}}</ref>

Henry Mancini recorded a pop arrangement of the "Fanfare-Rondeau" for ''The Mancini Generation'' in 1972. It was featured during a flashback scene in the 1973 Thai film ''Darunee phee sing''. It was subsequently covered by Hot Butter on their 1974 album ''Moog Hits''.

In 1991 ''rondeau'' was part of the soundtrack for the video game ''Civilization'' as the 'English theme'.

In 2008, the first four episodes of ''Boing Boing Video''{{'}}s ''SPAMasterpiece Theater'' opened with a chiptune remix of Jean-Joseph Mouret's "Rondeau: Fanfare" by Hamhocks Buttermilk Johnson as a parody of ''Masterpiece Theatre''.<ref name="Jardin 2008">{{cite web|first1=Xeni|last1=Jardin|url=http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/john-hodgman-in-bbtv-3.html|title=John Hodgman in BBtv's SPAMasterpiece Theater, Vol IV: V1V4 M3X1CO.|work=Boing Boing Video|publisher=Boing Boing|date=November 4, 2008|accessdate=September 10, 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919051027/http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/11/04/john-hodgman-in-bbtv-3.html|archivedate=September 19, 2016}}</ref>

Between June and September 2020, the song was used as the opening to the "Word Play" vocabulary short films on Nickelodeon's NOGGIN SVOD channel/app.

Sam Pottle composed a piece of music which parodies the ''rondeau'' segment for the 1978 PBS program ''Monsterpiece Theater'', a spin-off of ''Sesame Street''.

==See also== *Rondo

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == *[http://www.whoislog.info/profile/jean-joseph-mouret.html One reference to Jean-Joseph Mouret and ''Fanfare-Rondeau''] *{{youTube|RlCxBwQZ46k|Mouret - Fanfare Rondeau from Premiere Suite de Symphonies (The Canadian Brass) }} *[http://imslp.org/wiki/Fanfares_%28Mouret,_Jean-Joseph%29 Score for the ''Rondeau'' movement] at the IMSLP

Category:1729 compositions Category:Compositions by Jean-Joseph Mouret

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