Les années 1670-1673 constituent l’un de ces
carrefours comme l’histoire en général et l’histoire des arts en
particulier prennent parfois plaisir à aménager savamment : les
hommes, les événements, les instruments eux-mêmes, semblent exacts
au rendez-vous. De fait, ce qui va se passer durant ces quelques
années aura des conséquences décisives non seulement pour l’avenir
de la musique française, mais dans une certaine mesure, pour la
musique occidentale tout entière.
PHILIPPE BEAUSSANT
The years from 1670 to
1673 mark one of those crossroads at which history in
general, and the history of art in particular, sometimes
judiciously brings together just the right combination of
people, events and even instruments.
In fact, the events of those years were to
have major consequences, not only for the future of French
music, but also, to a certain extent, for Western music as a
whole.
Extrait:
Les œuvres enregistrées sur ce disque sont l’exact reflet de cette
extraordinaire rencontre historique et artistique.
D’abord, cette musique a été écrite pour être exécutée avec tout
l’arsenal instrumental possible en ce temps, en nombre, en qualité
comme en diversité. Lully disposait d’une palette sonore d’une
incroyable richesse: cordes, autant qu’il en voulait, flûtistes
virtuoses, hautbois sur toute l’échelle, percussions de toutes
sortes, cuivres, claviers, luths, théorbes et guitares. Certes,
sur les partitions, les indications sont rares ; mais on en a
d’indirectes qui témoignent de cette diversité, jusqu’à celles qui
indiquent, sur tel manuscrit, «M. de Lully joue», pour un solo de
violon avec ornementation fleurie, ou pour ensemble de guitares.
Et cette musique de scène exige cette variété, non seulement dans
l’instrumentation, mais dans les tempos, les moyens d’expression,
les rythmes. Diversité ensuite des œuvres elles-mêmes, au sein
d’une continuité dans l’évolution.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme constitue l’apothéose de la
comédie-ballet, le sommet (avec Psyché) de la collaboration de
Lully et de Molière. La musique ne s’y réduit pas à l’éternel
menuet de M. Jourdain. C’est une partition infiniment riche, tant
dans la comédie proprement dite que dans la Cérémonie Turque et
que dans le Ballet des Nations qui la prolonge. Les airs pour les
Espagnols (c’est-à-dire, dans le langage du temps, des gitans)
demandent une exécution pittoresque et brillante, non moins que
l’Entrée et la Chaconne des Scaramouches.
Le Divertissement royal donne une autre facette de cet art de cour
: grande musique festive comme Louis XIV dans la pleine force de
sa jeunesse ne cessa d’en commander. Versailles est né de
semblables fêtes, et c’est bien l’image de ce premier Versailles
d’avant 1680, fastueux, héroïque et galant, que l’on y retrouve.
Enfin, la musique instrumentale d’Alceste illustre la manière dont
s’est constitué l’opéra à la française. Née de la fusion du ballet
et de la tragédie, la chorégraphie s’y taille une place fort
grande, développant à l’extrême toutes les potentialités du ballet
de cour : musique de danse pure (menuet, marches, air des démons),
vastes scènes chorégraphiques (Rondeau pour la Gloire, Fête
infernale), musique descriptive destinée à être mimée et dansée
(Les vents), et musique évocatrice, avec grandeur et lyrisme,
d’une ample célébration funèbre (Pompe funèbre).
PHILIPPE BEAUSSANT
Excerpt:
The works recorded here are a faithful
reflection of the way in which history and art came together. The
music was written to be performed by the full range of
instruments, in terms of number, quality and diversity, available
at the time. Lully had an incredibly rich sound palette to work
with: as many strings as he could wish for, virtuoso flautists,
the full range of oboes, all manner of percussion instruments, the
brass section, keyboard instruments, lutes, theorboes and guitars.
Although indications on the scores are rare, the occasional
manuscript bearing the inscription "M. Lully joue" (Monsieur Lully
performs) provides indirect evidence concerning the diversity of
instruments used, indicating that the piece is for solo violin
with florid ornamentation, or for guitar ensemble. Stage music of
this kind required variety, not only in terms of the instruments
used, but also in terms of the tempo, rhythm and means of
expression. Diversity, within a context of continuity and
development, was also a hallmark of the works themselves,.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was the apotheosis of comédie-ballet, and
(together with Psyché) marked the high point of Lully's
collaboration with Molière. In this work, the music is not
confined to M. Jourdain's eternal minuet. It has an infinitely
rich score, as regards both the comedy itself and the Turkish
Ceremony (Cérémonie Turque) and the Dance of the Nations (Ballet
des Nations). The Spanish or, in the parlance of the age, Gypsy)
Airs (Les Airs pour les espagnols) demand a colourful and
brilliant execution, as do the Entrée and the Chaconne des
Scaramouches.
Royal Divertissement (Divertissement royal) gave another facet to
art at court: great festive music of the kind that King Louis XIV,
at the height of his youth, constantly commanded to be composed.
Out of such festivities was Versailles born, and indeed it is the
sumptuous, heroic and elegant reflection of Versailles in its
early days, before 1680, that we find in this music.
The instrumental music in Alceste illustrates how opéra à la
française took shape. Choreography, which resulted from the fusion
of ballet and tragedy, played a key role in the work, developing
the full potential of court ballet: pure dance music (minuet,
marches, air des démons), vast choreographic scenes (Rondeau pour
la Gloire, Fête infernale), descriptive music for pantomime and
dance (Les Vents) and grand, lyrically evocative funeral music
(Pompe funèbre).
"Le Concert des
Nations offers here a compendium of Lully's music from the heyday
of the court of Louis XIV (widely assumed to have been at
Versailles, but in fact from before the move from Paris). The
pieces, drawn from a variety of Lullian sources to make up three
entertainments ( or diverstissements), provide Savall with
opportunities to present his musicians in Lully's spectrum of
ensemble textures. The players respond to the rhytmic vitality of
the music, adding ornamentation with tremendous precision and
flair (might Lully have censored it, one wonders?), but the secret
of the obvious success of this recording is the rightness of the
tempos, whether for a dance, a battle, a gust of wind or a funeral".
"The real stars of the recording, however, are the percussion
players, Michel Claude and Pedro Estevan, whose command of the
possibilities for accompanying this repertory would have impressed
even Lully (there are almost no indications given in the scores
themselves)."
Reviewer: Ian Lace
Appréciation
~~~~
Evaluation
Here is another magnificent recording by
Le Concert des Nations directed by Jordi Savall - this time
concentrating on Lully's music for the court of the 'Sun King',
Louis XIV. As Philippe Beaussant says in his eloquently written
notes, Louis had a genuine and discerning love for all the arts, but
especially for music and dance. He gave his artists almost unlimited
resources with which to create their works - and he was especially
munificent towards Lully. Lully was Italian by birth, temperament
and training (despite his arrival in Paris at an early age) but
French by adoption and he assimilated the artistic tastes and ideas
of his second homeland.
Court ballet was one of the
essential forms of French music. Lully, the Italian, was to breathe
fresh air into it, giving it greater vigour and technical precision
and above all new horizons. Lully developed the ballet to reflect
the evolution of the King himself, endowing it with ever more
grandeur and brilliance. His collaboration with Molière gave rise to
the mixed genre of comédie-ballet. This new genre was to have a
decisive influence in expanding choreographic art through the
dimension of drama.
Louis' court
band, known as the French Band of Twenty-Four Violins, constituted
the first orchestra in the modern sense of the word - i.e. one in
which the permanent distribution of instruments precedes and
determines the composition of musical works. A hard core of strings
was flanked by oboes and if required by all the instruments of the
Chamber. Thus Lully had an incredibly rich sound palette to work
with: as many strings as he could wish for, virtuoso flautists, the
full range of oboes, all manner of percussion instruments, the brass
section, keyboard instruments, lutes, theorboes and guitars.
Le Bourgeois
Gentilhomme was the apotheosis of the comédie-ballet. Jordi
Savall's players deliver brilliant crisply articulated readings of
the eight short numbers comprising the suite and heighten their
colour. The numbers' titles indicate their style: for instance
Turkish Ceremony, Dance of the Nations, The Spanish Airs (or of
the gypsies).
Le Divertissement Royale is
another facet of King Louis' court music with the emphasis this
time, on the ceremonial with lots of pomp and imposing flourishes;
but there are quieter numbers too where the texture thins and the
number of instruments are reduced --even to solo players -- to give
a sense of contrasting intimacy.
With Alceste, we reach a
peak of sophistication. It illustrates how opéra à la français
took shape. "Choreography which resulted from the fusion of ballet
and tragedy, played a key role in the work, developing the full
potential of court ballet: pure dance music (minuet, marches, Air
des Démons), vast choreographic scenes (Rondeau pour la
Gloire, Fêteinfernale), descriptive music for
pantomime and dance (Les Vents) and grand, lyrically
evocative funeral music. The sense of theatre is heightened with two
bands of brass one on-stage and another echoing its music off-stage
in Echos and Jordall uses a wind machine to heighten the
atmosphere of Les Vents.
A glorious album with music that
sounds grand and big in every sense.
"Nouveau
disque Alia Vox et première déception ! Pourtant, le programme est
alléchant, et l’entreprise glorieuse qui semblait devoir nous
séduire, d’autant plus que les dernières productions de Savall
avaient fait l’unanimité tant la musique espagnole se transformait
en or au creux de ses doigts. Savall n’en est pas à son premier
essai en musique française : Alcione de
Marin Marais, les Cantiques de la Vierge de Charpentier
(chez Auvidis), notamment, avaient remporté un fameux succès. Mais
ici, même la célèbre Marche pour la Cérémonie turque, déjà
jouée avec tant de faste pour Tous les matins du monde, nous
apparaît curieusement fade et sans relief. Trop de métier, de
sagesse et de réserve ne donne guère d’émotion. Lorsque les divines
percussions de Pedro Estevan gonflent l’effectif, l’effet tombe même
à l’eau. Le soleil de Louis se serait-il terni ? Détrompez-nous
vite, Monsieur Savall…"
Reviewer: Stéphan Perreau
Excerpt:
"This new addition to the Alia Vox catalog is some sort of a
deception. An appetizing program, a glorious enterprise meant to
seduce - Savall's previous productions had been unanimoulsly
acclaimed: Spanish music was being transformed into gold..."
"This is not Savall's first intrusion into French music: Alcione, by
Marin Maris, the Cantiques de la Vierge by Charpentier
(Auvidis ) among others were widely acclaimed. But even here, the
famous Marche pour la Cérémonie turque, performed in
such a glorious fashion in Tous les matins du monde, seems
rather tedious and performed without imagination. Too much
crafmanship, wisdom and restraint lead to few emotions. Even when
the divine percussions of Pedro Estevan comme into play, they
produce little effect. Is Louis's sun fading out? Please intervene
quickly, maestro Savall!"
Goldberg
# 9
(Automne-Fall 1999)
Appréciation
Evaluation
Goldberg a cessé de publier
avec le # 54
~~~~~~
Goldberg is no longer available.
# 54 was the last issue.
Analyste: Igor
Kipnis Résumé ou abrégé: (Extraits)
" Il y a parmi les trente-et-un fragments
sélectionnés un choix extraordinaire d'ouvertures, de chacones, de
danses, de rondeaux, de marche et de pièces de caractère, toutes
brillamment interprétées par Jordi Savall et son magnifique ensemble.
La palette orchestrale est réellement vaste, et en ce qui concerne
l'instrumentation, les partitions de Lully, aux indications souvent
limités, sont traitées avec de nombreuses touches d'imagination ("Les
Vents" de Alceste, comprennent de fait le son d'une machine à
vent). Aucun effort n'a semble-t-il été épargné pour faire de ce
disque quelque chose d'extraordinaire, si brillamment interprété
qu'aucune autre version ne lui est comparable. Il me semble difficile
de trouver un disque plus recommandable et élégant consacré à la
musique de ce compositeur incroyablement machiavélique et
opportuniste, mais au talent immense. L'enregistrement du son est
sensationnel."
"Amid the thirty-one mostly short
selections are an exceptionally varied assortment of overtures,
chaconnes, dances, rondeaux, marches, and character pieces, all
glowingly played by Jordi Savall and his grand ensemble. The
orchestral palette is wide indeed, and, so far as instrumentation is
concerned, there are many imaginative touches to Lully's often barely
indicated scores ("Les Vents" from Alceste actually includes
the sound of a wind machine). No effort seems to have been spared to
make this an extraordinary compilation so brilliantly performed as
almost to defy comparison. I find it difficult to find a more
recommendable stylish disc devoted to the music of this incredibly
Machiavellian opportunistic, yet talented composer. The recorded sound
is sensational."
As if on cue to underline my reply to
the letter from James Ginsburg of Cedille Records, here's a disc of
Lully's theater music that presents it with all the grandeur it
demands. Savall's band sets out to re-create the rich, five-part
textures of the vingt-quatre violons du roi supplemented by
the oboes of the grand écurie (no fewer than seven), flutes,
bassoons, and percussion. What we get is a vivid evocation of the
regal pomp of the first permanently constituted orchestra in musical
history.
The three suites given here
illustrate the various stages of Lully's extraordinary climb to a
musical absolutism that paralleled the political absolutism of his
master Louis XIV. The Divertissement is culled from the
comédies-ballets Lully produced for the court during the 1660s,
a colorfully contrasted suite that ranges from the ceremonial pomp
of the "Menuet pour les Trompettes" to the delicacy of the Rondeau
from Molière's Le Mariage forcé (1664), an enchanting duet
between Savall's viol and the harp of Andrew Lawrence-King. The
comédie-ballet and Lully's collaboration with Molière reached
its apogee with Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme of 1670, the
eight-movement suite presented here culminating in a truly sumptuous
performance of the "Chaconne des Scaramouches, Trivelins et
Arlequins."
Two years later Lully gained the
royal patent that gave him total control of the destiny of French
opera, Alceste, the second of his tragédies en musique
appearing in 1674. The orchestral suite given here consists of 11
numbers from the opera framed by two splendidly warlike marches from
the spectacular battle divertissement in act II. From act III we
have the moving "La Pompe Funébre" that accompanies the obsequies of
Alceste, while two airs come from the act IV "Fête Infernale." All
the music is carried off with great panache, Savall here drawing
rather more rhythmically pointed playing in the livelier pieces than
has sometimes been the case with French Baroque music. That he also
remains a past master when it comes to drawing dignity and breadth
from the more expansive pieces could go without saying, but should
not be allowed to do so. The sound is both full and detailed, some
wonderfully subtle playing from percussionist Pedro Estevan being
magically captured. Strongly recommended.
American Record Guide
(01/2000)
Reviewer: Ardella
Crawford
Excerpts:
"... the sound quality of the orchestra is unmistakable: and the
music is played with a gaiety and cheerful abandon that conjures up,
as few rendition do, all the color and grandeur of French royalty.
Included here are the suites: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, which, as
the notes indicate, marks the zenith of Lully's collaboration with
Molière; Divertissement Royal; and the instrumental music from
Alceste. The music is golden -- French baroque at its best."
La musique / The music
1. Première Suite 'Le Bourgeois
Gentilhomme': Ouverture.
2. Première Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': Gavotte
3. Première Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': Canaries
4. Première Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': Marche Pour La Cérémonie
Turque
5. Première Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': Premier Air Des
Espagnols: Sarabande
6. Premier Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': Second Air Des
Espagnols: Gigue
7. Premier Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': L'Entrée Des
Scaramouches, Trivelins Et Arlequins
8. Premier Suite 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme': Chaconne Des
Scaramouches, Trivelins Et Arlequins
9. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Danse De Neptune
10. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Les Suivants De
Neptune
11. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Prld Des Trompettes
Et Autres Instruments Pour Mars
12. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Les Hommes Et Femmes
Armes
13. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Rondeau Du Mariage
Forcé
14. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Second Air ('Le
Mariage Forcé')
15. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Bourrée Du Mariage
Forcé
16. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Bourrée Du
Divertissement De Chambord
17. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement
Royal': Symphonie Des Plaisirs
18. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Les Esclaves
19. Deuxième Suite 'Le Divertissement Royal': Menuet Pour Les
Trompettes
20. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Marche Des Combattants
21. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Menuet
22. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Loure Pour Les Pêcheurs
23. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Échos
24. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Rondeau De La Gloire
25. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': La Pompe Funèbre
26. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Rondeau Pour La Fête Marine
27. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Les Vents
28. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': La Fet Infernale: 1er Air
29. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': 2eme Air, Les Démons
30. Troisième Suite 'Alceste': Marche Des Assiégeants
31. Chacone
Autres références disponibles via la base de
données de Todd McComb/ Other available references via
Todd McComb's database:
(Site: http://www.medieval.org)
Re:
AV9807
Les années 1670-1673 constituent l’un de ces
carrefours comme l’histoire en général et l’histoire des arts en
particulier prennent parfois plaisir à aménager savamment : les
hommes, les événements, les instruments eux-mêmes, semblent exacts
au rendez-vous. De fait, ce qui va se passer durant ces quelques
années aura des conséquences décisives non seulement pour l’avenir
de la musique française, mais dans une certaine mesure, pour la
musique occidentale tout entière.
