Description
For Mezzo-soprano or baritone
The Six nocturnes op. 6 constitute the last opus published by Hélène de Montgeroult, before her monumental Cours complet pour l’enseignement du fortepiano (1816). It is also the only one dedicated to the voice, which was so important to her that she constantly reminds us, throughout her method, that she must be the model of piano playing. We know that she liked to accompany the singers, that she had also assisted Viotti at the head of the Théâtre de Monsieur, which became Théâtre Feydeau in 1792, to give Italian operas, and that the direction of the Opéra-Comique kept a box at her disposal.
One might be surprised that she chose texts as old as those of Metastasis and Zeno. It would be to ignore the vogue that these authors continued to know, long after their death. Didn’t Mozart use Metastasis fifteen years earlier? Other composers such as Fernando Sor, Antoine Romagnesi, Isabella Colbran and Mauro Giuliani were also inspired by it at the same time as Hélène.
(Sandrine Buendia: voice, Bénédicte Harlé-Jobin: piano)
