Charles Gounod was a great French composer and a
student of the Paris Conservatoire. In 1837, Gounod
received the prestigious Prix de Rome. Gounod exercised
an extremely powerful influence on generations of
French composers from the second half of the 19th
century. Gounod achieved an enormous success in the
theatre, especially with his numerous operas that are
still popular worldwide.
Gounod wrote several numbered 'songs without words',
some as original piano pieces, others as arrangem...(+)
Charles Gounod was a great French composer and a
student of the Paris Conservatoire. In 1837, Gounod
received the prestigious Prix de Rome. Gounod exercised
an extremely powerful influence on generations of
French composers from the second half of the 19th
century. Gounod achieved an enormous success in the
theatre, especially with his numerous operas that are
still popular worldwide.
Gounod wrote several numbered 'songs without words',
some as original piano pieces, others as arrangements
of his own works for other combinations. This one,
published in 1861, was an arrangement of an earlier
(1840-2) song to a text by Lamartine (Liszt's early
inspiration).
Drawn from Alphonse de Lamartine's Meditations
poetiques from 1820, Gounod's setting of Le soir (The
Evening) dates from his years at the Villa de Medici as
a winner of the Prix de Rome. Written when the composer
was still in his early twenties, Le soir is the
quintessential Gounod melodie: a long, slow, rapturous
song that is at once sensuous and chaste, humane,
spiritual, and above all, romantic in expression and
classic in form. Strophically setting Lamartine's
six-verse poem, Gounod's legato melody effortlessly
floats above the chromatic harmonies of the piano,
blending the two together in an indissoluble unity.
Gounod went on to compose dozens of other songs, but he
never composed a better song. In 1866, he rewrote Le
soir as one of his Romances sans paroles for piano.
Although originally composed for piano and voices (2),
I created this arrangement for Viola & Concert (Pedal)
Harp.
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