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CD reviews
Michel Pignolet DE MONTÉCLAIR (1667 - 1737): "Beloved and Betrayed - Montéclair's Miniature Dramas for Flute and Voice"
Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano
Les Ordinaires
rec: May 13 - 15, 2018, DeKalb, Ill., Northern Illinois University (Boutell Memorial Concert Hall)
Naxos - 8.573932 (© 2020) (64'30")
Liner-notes: E; lyrics - translations: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
Scores
Spotify
Adieu, mes innocents troupeaux [1];
Ariane et Bachus [5];
Concert for transverse flute and bc No. 1 in e minor [4];
Déserts, où des humains j'évite la presence [1];
Le Dépit généreux [2];
Premier Recueil de Brunettes: Suite No. 1 [3];
Qu'à l'amour ou est peu contraire! [1]
Sources:
[1] Recueil d'airs sérieux et à boire, 1696;
[2] Cantates, premier livre, 1706;
[3] Premier Recueil de Brunettes, c1721-24;
[4] Concerts pour la flûte traversière et autres instruments, 1724;
[5] Cantates, troisième livre, 1728
Leela Breithaupt, transverse flute;
Allison Nyquist, violin;
Erica Rubis, viola da gamba;
David Walker, theorbo;
Jory Vinikour, harpsichord
"The instruments to which one was most attached at this time in Paris, are the harpsichord and the transverse or German flute. The French play these instruments today with an unequalled delicacy", the German writer Joachim Christoph Nemeitz wrote in 1727. The flute was a rival of the violin, and those French music lovers who resisted the growing influence of the Italian style - of which the violin was a representative - preferred it as it was better able to imitate the human voice. Several renowned flautists were active at the music scene, like Michel Blavet and Michel de La Barre. Michel Pignolet de Montéclair was not one of them - he may have written various pieces for the flute, he himself was not a flautist.
He was born as Michel Pignolet in Andelot in the Haute-Marne, and started his musical career as a choirboy in Langres cathedral. In 1687 he moved to Paris where in a tax register of 1695 he is described as "dancing and instrumental teacher of the third class". Here he added 'Montéclair' to his name, after a Gallo-Roman site on the hill of Montéclair in Andelot-Blancheville. He published various collections of airs for one and two voices and basso continuo. At the end of the century he was in the service of Charles-Henri de Lorraine Vaudémont, Prince of Commercy and Governor of Milan. He probably spent several years in Milan, and this could explain that he introduced the Italian double-bass to the orchestra of the Opéra in which he played the basse de violon from 1699 onwards.
As a composer he was quite active: he not only composed chamber music, but also sacred works and music for the theatre, including a tragédie-lyrique on a sacred subject, Jephté. A number of his compositions have been lost. Moreover he was a renowned teacher: among his pupils was François Couperin's daughter Marguerite-Antoinette. Montéclair published various treatises on musical subjects and got involved in a debate with Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Today the best-known part of Montéclair's oeuvre are his chamber cantatas. He composed 24 such works, four of them on Italian texts, which indicates that he was open to influences from Italy. All but one of these cantatas were published in three books; the first appeared around 1709, the third in 1728. The present disc includes two cantatas, taken from the first and third book respectively. They are for one voice avec simfonie, which means that the singer is not only accompanied by the basso continuo, but that also one or two melody instruments are involved. In these two cantatas the performers have the choice between the flute and the violin. If they want, they can also play together, colla parte.
Ariane et Bachus tells the story of Ariadne who is left behind on the island Naxos by her lover Theseus. It is not so much her anger but rather her rescue by Bacchus which is the core of the cantata. He falls in love with her and gives her a crown with seven golden stars. The moral is that betrayed lovers should turn to Bacchus. Montéclair expresses the text with instrumental means, like the viola da gamba whose arpeggiated figure depicts the coming of Bacchus disturbing the waves. Le Dépit généreux (Generous spite) is not connected to some specific character. The protagonist describes her mixed feelings about the lover who has left her. To her chagrin, she still has feelings for him, but in the end, she is getting over them.
The performances of these two cantatas are rather disappointing. Carrie Henneman Shaw has a very fine voice, but she misses the dramatic features of these works. It is true that this is no Italian music, and one should certainly not treat the cantatas as if they were written by an Italian. However, the very genre of the chamber cantata in France was the effect of the growing influence of the Italian style, which clearly manifests itself in Montéclair's oeuvre, including his cantatas. One has to find the middle ground between doing too little and doing too much. Here the first is the case, I'm afraid. In my collection I have two other performances which grab the nature of these cantatas much better. Julia Gooding delivers a fine performance of Le dépit généreux, with the ensemble Florilegium (Channel Classics, 2001) and Fiona Campbell is more convincing in Ariane et Bachus in a recording with the Ensemble Battistin.
The brunettes included in the programme come off much better. These are songs which were quite popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries. They are the more light-hearted counterparts of the airs de cour which had their roots in the late 16th century, and were originally sung at the court, but were later also embraced by the higher echelons of society. In the early 18th century, these songs were often the subject of arrangements, in particular for the then popular transverse flute. Here they are performed in different ways: by soprano with basso continuo accompaniment or by soprano and flute, either performing separate parts or colla parte. In some cases the song is followed by a double, a repeat of the melody with ornamentation, as was also common practice in harpsichord music. These songs require a more intimate approach, which suits Carrie Henneman Shaw perfectly.
The only instrumental piece is the first concert from a set of six which Montéclair published in 1724/25. They are scored for transverse flute and basso continuo, but the composer mentions the recorder, the oboe and the violin as alternatives. In this recording, the Concert No. 1 in e minor is played on the transverse flute, but one of the movements is played as a harpsichord solo by Jory Vinikour. This seems to have been common at the time: Couperin often played his music for instrumental ensemble on harpsichords with members of his family. The term concert has nothing to do with what is generally known as concerto: in fact this work is a suite of fifteen character pieces, such as La Françoise, Le Breton and La Milanoise. Leela Breithaupt's interpretation does full justice to this piece, and she is also in fine form in the brunettes.
However, I have mixed feelings about this disc. The instrumental performances are very good and the brunettes are very well done, but the performances of the two cantatas are not really convincing. It is also regrettable that the performers did ignore what we know about pronunciation of 18th-century French.
Johan van Veen (© 2020)
Relevant links:
Carrie Henneman Shaw
Les Ordinaires