L'horloge de flore (The Flower Clock or Flora's Clock) by Jean Françaix was commissioned by John de Lancie, former principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1957. It was completed in 1959 and premiered by Mr. de Lancie and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1961. Since that time, it has become a staple of the 20th century oboe concerto repertoire.
The current piano reduction of Jean Françaix's L'horloge de Flore consists of the full orchestral score in piano score format. Since it has been only minimally edited, it is an extremely difficult accompaniment for a single pianist. Collaborative pianists must make decisions concerning which pitch material to incorporate into an accompaniment. Many oboists have expressed the need for a revised piano accompaniment to make the piece more accessible to pianists and, thus, enable the concerto to be studied and performed more frequently by oboists.
The purpose of this document is to further facilitate performance of this work in a recital setting by both professional and student oboists and to encourage student oboists to study the work by revising the piano reduction. In order to do so, it will be necessary to provide commentary and background on similar oboe works by Jean Françaix, provide a theoretical analysis of L'horloge de Flore, offer performance suggestions of the work for the oboist, clearly discuss transcriptional decisions in the revised piano reduction, and create a practical, two-hand piano accompaniment.