Petite Suite - (2019) ![](images/01_Little_Green_Dot.gif)
Les photos dans une salle d'attente
Dr. med. Jürgen Reitemeyer gewidmet
As the fine eye surgeon, Jürgen Reitemeyer, was at his magical work on my wife's behalf, I sat in his waiting room, the walls decorated with black and white photographs by the Parisian artist, Robert Doisneau (1912-1994) Of Doisneau, one reads: "When he died in April 1994, he left behind 450,000 negatives that tell an entertaining story of his time with a tender and observant eye, which must not hide the depth of his thought, his irreverent attitude toward power and authority, his relentlessly free-thinking mind." Atelier Robert Doisneau, 2014.
Surveying the photo attentively framed, while waiting, this little "exhibition" echoed the grandiose Pictures at an Exhibition of Mussorgsky, and I mulled over a number of pictures with musical thoughts in mind. For this a little gesture of the same tones acts to introduce segments of this little suite. Thereafter the first picture is characterized in a carousel waltz, haltingly at first, and thereafter whimsical.
![](images_14/Petite_1.jpg)
Detail from Le Manege de Monsieur Barre
![](images_14/PS1.png)
The next photo captures a working man hauling linked carnival horses, which for Parisian children must have been so adventuresome, but not for the working man removing them.
![](images_14/Petite_2.jpg)
Detail from La cavalerie du Champs de Mars
![](images_14/PS2.png)
After another small interlude of "waiting," a lyrical melody sings of romance over arpeggios of the diatonic major.
![](images_14/Petite_3.jpg)
Detail of Le Baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville
![](images_14/PS3.png)
With so many photos all in black and white, there is self-referential humor in Doisneau's various visual references to black and white, from a wedding dress and suit, as from a worker from his labor to the well-scrubbed hostess of the bar, and so on. Musical references then take the opportunities of dissonances as of harmonic minor and major thirds.
![](images_14/Petite_4.jpg)
Detail from Café Noir et Blanc, Chez Gégène, avenue Galliéni, Joinville-le-Pont
![](images_14/PS4.png)
To bring the suite to its close, a little fughetta with minor and major components is offered, along with "wedding bells" and jocularity.
![](images_14/PS5.png)
7 pages, circa 9' 00" - an MP3 demo is here: ![](images/01_demo.gif)
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano score.
![](images/score.gif)
Petite Suite
![](images/01_home_page_2005.gif)