Chansons madécasses

Chansons madécasses
Song cycle by Maurice Ravel
The composer, c. 1925
English Madagascan Songs
Text poems Chansons madécasses by Évariste de Parny
Language French
Dedication Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Performed 8 May 1926 (1926-05-08)
Movements three
Scoring
  • voice (mezzo-soprano or baritone)
  • flute
  • cello
  • piano

The Chansons madécasses (Madagascan Songs) is a collection of three art songs by Maurice Ravel written between 1925 and 1926 for voice (mezzo-soprano or baritone), flute, cello and piano with words from the poetry collection Chansons madécasses by Évariste de Parny.[1] The song cycle consists of the three titles "Nahandove", "Aoua", and "Il est doux".

They are dedicated to the American musician and philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge.[2]

Premiere and notable recordings

The premiere took place on 8 May 1926, in Rome with the voice of Jane Bathori, Alfredo Casella on the piano, Louis Fleury on the flute and Hans Kindler on the cello.[3] The first edition print was accompanied by Luc-Albert Moreau prints. The first known record is that of Madeleine Grey, a highly regarded singer, in 1932.

See also

In 2011, the British composer James Francis Brown wrote a work in three movements for the same instrumentation called Songs of Nature and Farewell, which is a setting of three little-known poems by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work is intended as a companion to Ravel's Chansons madécasses.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Arbie Orenstein (1975). "Ravel's Musical Language". Ravel: Man and Musician. Courier Corporation. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-486-26633-6.
  2. ↑ Maurice Ravel; Arbie Orenstein (1 August 2003). "Correspondence". A Ravel Reader: Correspondence, Articles, Interviews. Courier Corporation. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-486-43078-2.
  3. ↑ Deborah Mawer (24 August 2000). The Cambridge Companion to Ravel. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. pp. 264–. ISBN 978-0-521-64856-1.
  4. ↑ Songs of Nature and Farewell (no date) Available at: http://www.musichaven.co.uk/Songs-of-Nature-and-Farewell.html (Accessed: 13 October 2015)
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