Envoi

An envoi or envoy is a short stanza at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.

Form

The envoi is relatively fluid in form, depending on the overall form of the poem and the needs and wishes of the poet. In general, envois have fewer lines than the main stanzas of the poem. They may also repeat the rhyme words or sounds used in the main body of the poem. For example, the chant royal consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E.

History and development

The envoi first appears in the songs of the medieval trouvères and troubadours; it developed as an address to the poet's beloved or to a friend or patron. As such, the envoi can be viewed as standing apart from the poem itself and expresses the poet's hope that the poem may bring them some benefit (the beloved's favours, increased patronage, and so on).

In the 14th century French poetry was tending to move away from song and towards written text. The two main forms used in this new literary poetry were the ballade, which employed a refrain at first but evolved to include an envoi, and the chant royal, which used an envoi from the beginning.

Envoi (album)

Envoi is an album by American jazz trumpeter Bill Dixon, which was recorded live at the 2010 edition of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville and released on the Canadian Victo label. Dixon reassembled the nonet previously employed on Tapestries for Small Orchestra. It was his last concert, which took place less than a month before he died. Dixon’s failing health required that his solos were prerecorded and played back during the performance.

Reception

The Musicworks review by Stuart Broomer states "The music initially suggests the cutting cry of Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain but moves subtly and constantly through a series of phases that further exploit the sombre side of trumpet sonority."

Track listing

Personnel

Envoi (composition)

Envoi is a single-movement orchestral composition by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with additional contributions from Thurmond Smithgall. It was first performed May 9, 1996 in Atlanta Symphony Hall, Atlanta by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under conductor Yoel Levi. The piece is dedicated to Rouse's mother, who died in the summer of 1993.

Composition

Envoi has a duration of approximately 20 minutes and is composed in a single adagio movement. Rouse described his inspiration for the work in the score program notes, writing:

He continued:

Rouse likened the work spiritually to his 1992 Violoncello Concerto as a meditation on death, but remarked, "I also believe that this work will set the seal, for a time at least, on my scores which have been composed as a response to death — I hope so, at any rate."

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra comprising two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (2nd doubling bass clarinet), four French horns, three trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, three percussionists, harp, and strings.