Nadia Boulanger’s Fantaisie Variée Pour Piano Et Orchestre a Study of a Significant Unpublished Piece

The research consists of a brief historical and biographical overview of Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), a main focus of a thematic and motivic analysis of her work Fantaisie variée pour piano et orchestre, along with touching upon the influences of Fauré, Debussy, Widor, Reger, and Franck on its composition, and a mention of the process of obtaining the Fantaisie from the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. Boulanger produced works in a variety of genres, including: a fugue; more than thirty songs for voice and piano; two completed works for solo piano; three works for organ; several chamber works; three works for orchestra, including the Fantaisie; an opera and a song cycle in collaboration with Raoul Pugno (1852-1914); and a cantata. Her Fantaisie variée pour piano et orchestre remains unpublished to this day, despite its performances by Pugno and Boulanger across Europe in the early-twentieth century and several performances in recent years. Well-known for her work as organist, pedagogue, conductor, and pianist, Nadia Boulanger left a formidable impression upon the music world. However, Boulanger has not received the same acknowledgement as composer. The premise of this research is to show the significance of the Fantaisie variée pour piano et orchestre, to bring attention to its worthiness of recognition and publication, and to provide an analysis for those wishing to study it further