My lover of Saint Jean « Le Poème Harmonique

My lover of Saint Jean

From Monteverdi to the Roaring Twenties

History repeats itself. Do we know where baroque music – whose rebirth we have been contributing to for many years – comes from ? History repeats itself, and remembers. From the beginning of the 20th century, when Wanda Landowska rediscovered the harpsichord, Charles Bordes was singing Lully’s praises, Xavier de Courville revived the spirit of Monteverdi, and Wekerlin established a sacred bond between baroque music and popular songs and timbres… Followed by most of the singers of that period, including Yvette Guilbert, who sang 17th century court tunes, popular songs of yesteryear and their own song repertoire in the same tone!

Passionate about such resonance between one era and another, the musical director of the Poème Harmonique and the mezzo-soprano found a common affinity here, as surprising as it is fascinating – and wanted their very first collaboration to be a unique musical and theatrical adventure : Mon Amant de Saint Jean. This led to a recital in which the atmosphere of the 20s infuses its mild madness into early music, a collaboration fuelled by a sense of proximity and intimacy, where the emotion of the solo voice and the poetry of the texts prevail.

In the spirit of song recitals, they invite you to listen to some of the most beautiful baroque tunes, from Monteverdi to Lully, where the expression of the feeling of love finds a timeless echo in the realistic melodies of the 20th century, right up to the arrangements of contemporary composer Vincent Bouchot. All this comes together in an intimate tone that is so dear to the Poème Harmonique – like a mesh guided by emotion, whose delicate threads reveal the inner adventure of a woman reminiscing about her past loves to the audience.

The interwar period marks an often overlooked stage in the rediscovery of early music. It was a flourishing time for ethnomusicology, a time of collections of “songs of olden times”, where the quest for identity fuelled the attraction for a fantasized national narrative ; where nostalgia for bygone days met the swirling energy of cabarets. Artists, researchers and musicologists such as Xavier de Courville or Vincent d’Indy set out to find these works that were not yet called “baroque”, and integrated them into the popular register of traditional songs. And in the song recitals of Colette Renard, Fréhel, Barbara or Damia, airs de cour could then be heard alongside new creations, and the lyrical tragedy flirted with melodies sung in the French countryside !

Who better than Stéphanie d’Oustrac to embody such a rich palette ? As a baroque icon, and a divine tragedian, she deploys her talents as a performer here in order to breathe new life into these songs of times long gone… and follows in the footsteps of the great popular singers of the 20th century, the legendary and timeless “teller“.

SOLO CAST BY DATE – 2023 :

16 FEBRUARY 2023, CERCLE ROYAL GAULOIS DE BRUXELLES (BELGIUM)
FESTIVITA
ISABELLE DRUET, MEZZO-SOPRANO
ORCHESTRE DU POÈME HARMONIQUE
VINCENT DUMESTRE, CONDUCTOR

7 MAY 2023, SALLE ELIE DE BRIGNAC IN DEAUVILLE (FRANCE)
SPRINGTIME OF EARLY MUSIC
STÉPHANIE D’OUSTRAC, MEZZO-SOPRANO
POÈME HARMONIQUE ORCHESTRA
VINCENT DUMESTRE, CONDUCTOR

28 JULY 2023, CHÂTEAU DU THOLONET (FRANCE)
LES MUSICALES DE LA ROUTE CÉZANNE
STÉPHANIE D’OUSTRAC, MEZZO-SOPRANO
POÈME HARMONIQUE ORCHESTRA
VINCENT DUMESTRE, MUSICAL DIRECTOR

1 SEPTEMBER 2023, TIVOLIVREDENBURG IN UTRECHT (NETHERLANDS)
OUDE MUZIEK FESTIVAL
STÉPHANIE D’OUSTRAC, MEZZO-SOPRANO
ORCHESTRE DU POÈME HARMONIQUE
VINCENT DUMESTRE, CONDUCTOR

8 OCTOBER 2023, SALLE POLYVALENTE D’AMBRONAY (FRANCE)
AMBRONAY BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL
STÉPHANIE D’OUSTRAC, MEZZO-SOPRANO
POÈME HARMONIQUE ORCHESTRA
VINCENT DUMESTRE, MUSICAL DIRECTOR

26 NOVEMBER 2023, OPÉRA DE MASSY (FRANCE)
ISABELLE DRUET, MEZZO-SOPRANO
ORCHESTRE DU POÈME HARMONIQUE
VINCENT DUMESTRE, MUSICAL DIRECTOR

VINCENT BOUCHOT, ARRANGEMENTS