Auguste Mimart: 6 Septuors - Score and Parts

Auguste Mimart: 6 Septuors - Score and Parts. Transcribed and edited by Sandy Coffin & John Wallace. Commentary by Sandy Coffin. Recordings available on The Wallace Collection - Origin of the Species: Evolution CD.

Scholarly performance editions of the complete Quintettes faciles and the Septuors are also available; these include additional transposed (World Parts) for modern brass instruments. 

Septuor No.1: Andante non troppo – Allegro vivo

Septuor No.2: Andante

Septuor No.3: Allegro moderato

Septuor No.4: Scherzo

Septuor No.5: Minuetto

Septuor No.6: Allegro moderato


Wallace Collection: Mimart Editions
Auguste Mimart (1828-1868) was a horn player and student of Joseph Meifred at the
Paris Conservatoire, winning the 2nd Prix for cor a pistons in 1854. He wrote his 6 Septuors and 6
Quintettes for brass while serving as a chef de musique with the Gendarmerie of the Garde
impériale in Paris, c1854-1859. They were first published in Paris in 1860 while he was serving
as a chef de musique with the French Navy forces in the South China Seas. The original scorings
included parts for petit bugle [Eb flugelhorn], cornet, bugle [Bb flugelhorn], saxotromba [Eb
tenor horn], trombone, ophicleide and Bb basse [euphonium].

These performance editions of the 6 Quintettes faciles and the 6 Septuors provide
period performance suggestions for modern players, as well as informative notes on the
composer. The sets include additional transposed (World Parts) for modern brass instruments.
A complete recording of all twelve works by The Wallace Collection, played on period
instruments, is also available: Origin of the Species: Evolution (TWC-FR2022-001).

Each of the collections contains six single movement works that can be performed
separately, although the structure of tonalities, tempos, and moods suggests that each group of
works was conceived as a collection from which separate movements could be chosen and
organized in an order to suit a variety of occasions. Mimart frequently plays with the duality of
major and minor, moving quickly between contrasting moods, enriching the range of
expression of the new chromatic instruments of his time.

Commonly recurring ideas in Mimart’s works include cascading figures that descend
through all the instruments or at times ascend from the lowest instrument; angular themes
combined with ascending thirds; cantabile melodies that are vocal or operatic in nature; dance-
like and driving rhythms with interesting harmonic motion; brief fortissimo interjections into
soft passages; and wide dynamic contrasts and echo effects.