Product Description

The French Song Companion is the most comprehensive book of French mélodie in any language. The great accompagnist Graham Johnson, a noted authority of song, provides repertoire guides to the work of some 150 composers - the majority of them from France, but including British, American, German, Spanish, and Italian musicians who have written French vocal music. There are major articles on such figures as Fauré, Duparc, Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc; substantial articles on Bizet, Chabrier, Gounod, Chausson, Hahn, and Satie; and reassessments of such composers as Massenet, Koechlin, and Leguerney. A host of less celebrated figures who have contributed to the genre take their place in a book which is both informative and entertaining. The biographical articles are supplemented by the song translations of Richard Stokes, some 700 in all, and a veritable treasury of great French poetry from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. These stand in their own right as indispensable to music lovers, concert-goers, and professional singers and their accompanists. This is a book which not only reflects the repertoire as found in today's concert halls, but also encourages performers and armchair enthusiasts to explore the neglected highways and biways of an endlessly fascinating and highly civilised body of music.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #386462 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 568 pages

Gramaphone
"A great deal of thought has obviously gone into the presentation of the enormous number of facts to be found here ... Furthermore, the book is a delight to handle."

Review
flicking through the lovingly enthusiastic writing in this Companion is a rewarding experience. Johnson has excelled on every level and his experience as an accompanist transforms this book into a precious insider's account. What could easily have turned out to be a dry catalogue is in fact a lively, witty and informative journey. (Francis Carlin, The Singer )

A great deal of thought has obviously gone into the presentation of the enormous number of facts to be found here ... Furthermore, the book is a delight to handle. (Gramaphone )

Gramaphone
"A great deal of thought has obviously gone into the presentation of the enormous number of facts to be found here ... Furthermore, the book is a delight to handle."

Customer Reviews

Indispensable for singers and accompanists
This book is encyclopaedic in its coverage and is an indispensable guide for anyone who is interested in French song, but particularly for singers and accompanists. There are many useful translations of poems - not just the well-known ones but obscure ones too - and honest appraisals of the work of almost every composer who has set the French language to music. The book is constructed in such a way that it is very easy to use, with separate indexes for composer, poet and title. The main part of the book consists of individual articles on each composer, arranged alphabetically from Jean ABSIL to Jean WIENER, describing their oeuvre in general and individual cycles and songs in detail. The length of entries varies in proportion to the composer's (or work's) perceived importance, but there is also a subjective element that takes into account how they rate in the authors' estimation. Thus, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel get enormous entries, as one would expect, but Honegger gets a generous three pages plus several poem translations, whereas Vierne (whose songs have the edge over Honegger's in my view) is only allowed a mere half page and no poems. The style of the writing is always entertaining, never dry, and it is quite unfair that so talented a musician as Graham Johnson should also be such an accomplished writer! Fellow mélodie singers, I guarantee that you will find this thoroughly researched and carefully produced book to be a real treasure trove and an inspiration for expanding your repertoire. It's one of the few books that I own which are permanently in use and never get put back on the shelves my bookcase.