Romantic French Song, 1830-1870

Abstract

Romantic French Song, 1830-1870. Edited with translations and commentaries by David Tunley. New York: Garland, 1994 (vol. 1)--1995 (vols. 2-6). [Vol. 1: Early Romances by Berat, Berlioz, Duchambge, Grisar, Meyerbeer, Monpou, Morel, Panseron, and Romagnesi; Selected Songs of Louis Niedermeyer and Ernest Reyer. Pref., p. ix-x; gen, introd., p. xi-xx; Gilbert Duprez on pronouncing French when singing, p. xxi-xxii; the composers and their songs, p. xxiii-xxxvi; song texts and translations, p. xxxvii-lxii; scores (facsim. reprod.), p. 1-243; index different settings of the same text in vols. 1-6, p. 245 (repeated as the final p. of each vol.). ISBN 0-8153-1360-8. $98.00. Vol. 2: Songs by Felicien David (1810-1876). Pref., etc. (as in vol. 1), p. vii-xlix; scores (facsim. reprod.), p. 1-218; index, p. 220. ISBN 08153-1359-4. $95.00. Vol. 3: Songs by Henri Rebel (1807-1880); Six romances populaires (1849), Six melodies de Victor Hugo (1855), and Five Other Songs by Edouard Lalo (1823-1892). Pref., etc., p. vii-liv; scores (facsim. reprod.), p. 1-161; index, p. 163. ISBN 0-8153-1356-X. $95.00. Vol. 4: Songs by Victor Masse (1822-1884), including Chants bretons (1853); and Songs by Georges Bizet (1838-1875), including Feuilles d'album (1867). Pref., etc., p. vii-li; scores (facsim. reprod.), p. 1-259; index, p. 261. ISBN 0-8153-1358-6. $99.00. Vol. 5: Songs by Charles Gounod (1818-1893); Songs by Leo Delibes (1836-1891); Six poesies d'Armand Silvestve by Alexis de Castillon (1838-1873). Pref., etc.. p. vii-lii; scores (facsim. reprod.), p. 1-267; index, p. 269. ISBN 0-8153-1537-8. $99.00. Vol. 6: Songs by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), Louis Lacombe (1818-1884), and Auguste Vaucorbeil (1821-1884). [Pref., etc., p. vii-xlvi; scores (facsim. reprod.). p. 1-192; index, p. 194. ISBN 0-1853-1361-6. $90.00. Cloth; acid-free paper. ISBN 0-8153-1355-1. $576.00 (the set).] From the early romances of Antoine Romagnesi and Hippolyte Monpou the mature melodies of Hector Berlioz and Henri Duparc, the French romantic song is one of the most expressive genres in music. Unfortunately, much of this rich repertory, though enormously popular in its day, has been virtually ignored for over 150 years. With this recent Garland publication of six volumes of French romantic songs edited by David Tunley of the University of Western Australia, however, we can now begin fill in some of the gaps. According the general preface, Tunley includes over three hundred romances and melodies composed during the forty years that saw a blossoming of the romantic: spirit in all the arts in France (vol. 1, p. ix). While Berlioz, Charles Gounod. Eduoard Lalo, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Leo Delibes, and Jules Massenet are among the most recognizable composers from the period represented in the collection, Romagnesi, Monpou, Pauline Duchambge, Frederic Berat, Albert Grisar, Auguste Morel, Augusre Panseron, Louis Niedermeyer, Ernest Reyer, Henri Reber, Victor Masse, Felicien David, Alexis de Castillon, Louis Lacombe, and Auguste Vaucorbeil were relatively minor figures and will be virtually unknown many potential users of these volumes. Each volume begins with a general preface that explains the coverage and intended aim of the collection to reproduce (in facsimile) songs that have long been out of circulation (vol. 1, p. ix). The preface is followed by a general introduction in which the editor offers a brief historical precis of the period covered--from the July Revolution the Franco-Prussian War. Herein Tunley discusses music-making in Parisian salons, and offers an overview of the genre's development as it was transformed from the simple, strophic romance in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries into the mature melodie, with all of the delicate attention textual detail, expansive lyricism, and expressive harmonic shading that characterize the best representatives of the genre. The introduction is followed by an excerpt in English from an 1882 edition of Gilbert Duprez's singing treatise L'Art du chant (Paris: Heugel, 1845) on the proper pronunciation of sung French. …