The French art song, or mélodie
In the hierarchy of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century repertoires, the French mélodie – sometimes for two voices and piano, more often for one voice with accompaniment – stands at the summit.
Its fair assessment requires deep understanding of poetry and an appreciation of detail. Symbolist thoughts or, at the other extreme, lines borrowed from Ronsard or Villon, make it into a genre that is above all literary. This refinement – seen as elitist – explains why the mélodie is still not a ‘popular’ genre, one with general appeal, especially since some of this music (oddly, the pieces that are heard most frequently in concert) often refuses direct expression of feeling. The singer has to have the talent of a storyteller; the pianist must be able to create an imaginary orchestra. Launched by Gounod and Berlioz, the vogue for the mélodie flourished among the conservative composers (Dubois, Massé, Delibes, Paladilhe, Hahn and others), as well as among the innovators, such as Chausson, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc, with Gabriel Fauré as the undisputed master of the genre.
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Gabriel FAURÉ
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/Paul VERLAINE
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Gabriel FAURÉ
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Claude DEBUSSY
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Claude DEBUSSY
/Paul VERLAINE
Fêtes galantes, 2e série
Claude DEBUSSY
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Nadia BOULANGER Raoul PUGNO
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Maurice RAVEL
Lied maritime op. 43
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Mélodies persanes op. 26
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Mélodies de Gabriel Pierné [liste]
Gabriel PIERNÉ
Mélodies de Georges Bizet [liste]
Georges BIZET
Mélodies
Henri DUPARC
Mélodies irlandaises
Hector BERLIOZ
Musiques sur l’eau
Théodore DUBOIS
/Albert SAMAIN
Quatre Chants
Lili BOULANGER
Six Fables de La Fontaine
Jacques OFFENBACH
Six Poèmes arabes
Louis AUBERT
Trois Ballades de François Villon
Claude DEBUSSY
Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
Claude DEBUSSY
Trois Poèmes pour chant et piano
Guillaume LEKEU
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Venezia
Reynaldo HAHN
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publication date : 03/02/25
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