Georges Bizet is not just the composer of Carmen or The Pearl Fishers. For voice, he also wrote 63 songs (called “mélodies” in classical French music terminology) that use several literary sources, from Victor Hugo and Lamartine to Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Musset. Bizet’s melodic ease, which we already know from his famous operas, is just as vibrant in these little gems, which are four or five minutes long on average. I’m willing to bet you’ll be immediately charmed by the adorable Chants des Pyrénées (Songs of the Pyrenees, which are somewhat reminiscent of Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne (written much later). The youth pieces found there (seven in total) are also irresistibly simple, delicate, and naive, but imbued with a refinement that keeps them well beyond mere popular ditties. And then the more elaborate Feuilles d’album (Album Leaves), Twenty Melodies Op. 21, or the Sixteen Melodies published 10 years after Bizet’s death, more clearly anticipate the style of the great mélodie writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two historical pianos alternate in providing the accompaniment: an 1835 Pleyel (for the early pieces) and an 1898 Erard for the others.
It’s a memorable collection, further enhanced by eight previously unedited pieces and several others that, although edited, had never been recorded. Among the previously unreleased pieces, let’s note a magnificent adaptation of an air from L’Arlésienne, which we didn’t know in this form, and an astonishing childhood piece, Ah ! Qu’elle est belle à voir (Ah! How beautiful she is to look at).
Victorin Joncières (a contemporary composer of Bizet) called these exquisite miniatures “marvels of grace and taste,” while Ernest Reyer (a critic and composer) said they are “little lyrical dramas chiseled with the most delicate art.” The theatrical man Bizet knew how to draw the very fine line between sincere emotion (and directly expressed) and affected mannerism, refusing to cross over into the latter. The result is always convincing, even if sometimes a bit old-fashioned.
The soloists are excellent, particularly tenor Cyrille Dubois (who is, I dare say, perfect) and mezzo-soprano Coline Dutilleul, whose very fine color and timbre bring a beautiful lightness to her interventions. The quality of the diction is remarkable. Not a word is lost, which enhances the flavor of Bizet’s music, who chose his texts carefully. Guilhem Worms is an effective baritone-bass who powerfully leads the most dramatic pieces. The only exception, in my opinion, is Marianne Croux, whose vibrato is sometimes too heavy, which diminishes the simple beauty of the melodies she has chosen to perform.
The two pianists, Luca Montebugnoli and Edoardo Torbianelli, bring the necessary color to the accompaniment, as well as the ideal salon character.
The accompanying booklet is a masterpiece of accessible scholarship and historical context. Bravo to the partners of this project: Les Amis de Georges Bizet, Harmonia Mundi, and the Palazzetto Bru Zane.
This complete recording, the first ever for Bizet’s melodies, is a marvel of finely woven beauty and is now an essential collection for any self-respecting music lover and devotee of French melody.
You may also like : the melodies of Gabriel Dupont by Cyrille Dubois
