Full Description
The twenty-first century has witnessed a surge of scholarly interest in the French art song, or mélodie, with a flood of new books, articles, and editions. This Companion draws on the best of this new research, with chapters by world-renowned scholars and performers examining French art song through the practicality of performance, both pianistic and vocal. The book surveys the repertory chronologically from the 1820s into the 1950s, covering all the central composers (Berlioz, Gounod, Fauré, Debussy, Duparc, Chausson, Ravel, Poulenc, Messiaen, and many more). It includes chapters on the role of women in the creation, performance, and diffusion of French song; the analysis of French prosody and poetic forms; the position of the mélodie in French literary history; and the interpretation of mélodie in performance. Scholars, students, performers, and music lovers will find thorough and up-to-date resources to enable them to explore this crucial yet understudied song repertory.
Contents
Introduction; Acknowledgments; Author biographies; List of musical examples, figures, and tables; 1. Song and the French poetic tradition Vincent Vivès; 2. French versification and song: interconnected worlds David Hunter; 3. Romance to mélodie? The trajectory of Berlioz's songs Julian Rushton; 4. The mélodie comes of age (Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Massenet) Steven Huebner; 5. Fauré's individual songs and collections Roy Howat; 6. Debussy's early songs: finding his compositional voice Marie Rolf; 7. The Franckist-Wagnerian strain (Duparc, Chausson, Chabrier) Andrew Pau; 8. Women and French song Annegret Fauser; 9. Fauré's song cycles Stephen Rumph; 10. Debussy's mature songs Denis Herlin; 11. Ravel and his contemporaries Emily Kilpatrick; 12. Poulenc and his circle: le style quotidien Byron Adams; 13. Olivier Messiaen Stephen Broad and David Evans; 14. Interpreting French art song François Le Roux; Guide to further reading; Index.
