"Légende Pastorale" for flute and piano, Op. 138

Benjamin Godard: "Légende Pastorale" for flute and piano, Op. 138 was written in 1892 and dedicated to Monsieur L. De la Laurencie, a prominent French musicologist and violinist.
The piece is a "Pastorale," a genre characterized by a 6/8 or 12/8 time signature, drone-like bass notes (mimicking a bagpipe or hurdy-gurdy), and a rustic, outdoorsy atmosphere. This piece was designed to showcase the "silvery" and "transparent" tone that defined the new French style of playing led by Taffanel.
In 1892, Godard was 43 years old and one of the most famous, yet increasingly controversial, composers in France. 1892 was a period of intense aesthetic battle in Paris. While many of his contemporaries (like Franck and Chausson) were moving toward Wagnerian chromaticism, Godard remained a fierce defender of traditional French clarity, melody, and grace. The Légende Pastorale is a direct product of this "Anti-Wagnerian" philosophy. Benjamin Godard was a polarizing figure not because of radical innovation, but because of his fierce resistance to change. By 1892, Paris was obsessed with Richard Wagner. Composers like Franck and d'Indy were adopting heavy chromaticism and "endless melody." Godard, however, detested Wagner’s influence, famously stating that Wagner "is a mountain of which the peak is lost in the clouds."
1892 marked the beginning of the end for Godard. He was already suffering from tuberculosis that would claim his life only three years later (1895). Consequently, his music from this period often oscillates between a "forced" lightheartedness and a poignant, nostalgic lyricism.