102, 68, 89, 103-109, 90, 110-114

Seize Mélodies

Posthumous collection of songs for voice and piano, each published in two keys. All but no. 2 were published for the first time. All the songs were soon after published separately with illustrated covers.
pages high key low key origin
 
1 La Sirène 1–5 E♭ C La Coupe du Roi de Thulé
2 Ouvre ton cœur 6-13 Bm Am Ivan IV, originally in Vasco de Gama
3 Pourquoi pleurer 14-19 D C Noé
4 Voyage 20-26 B♭ A♭ Clarisse Harlowe
5 Aubade 27-34 A♭ F Clarisse Harlowe
6 La Nuit 35-39 C B♭ Clarisse Harlowe
7 Le Doute! 40–46 G F [2ème] Symphonie
8 Conte 47–51 E♭ D♭ Grisélidis
9 Aimons, rêvons! 52–58 F E♭ La Coupe du Roi de Thulé
10 La Chanson de la rose 59-66 F E♭ ?
11 Qui donc t'aimera mieux? 67-72 E♭ D♭ Noé
12 Le Gascon 73-77 G F Grisélidis
13 N'oublions pas! 78-83 Am Fm La Coupe du Roi de Thulé
14 Si vous aimez! 84-89 B♭m Gm Clarisse Harlowe
15 Pastel 90-96 B♭ G Le Portrait
16 L'Abandonnée 97-101 C A Grisélidis
voice and piano

Poems: see individual songs.

Compilation: 1873-83. After the publication of the Vingt Mélodies in 1873, it appears that Bizet planned a second collection, consisting of at least fourteen songs and duets drawn from the three recent operas for which he saw no other future: La Coupe du Roi de Thulé, Clarisse Harlowe, and Grisélidis. Four writers (Jules Barbier, Philippe Gille, Paul Ferrier and Catulle Mendès) were engaged to supply new words, since the operatic texts could no longer be used. Bizet wrote out the piano parts leaving the new texts to be written in with, in some cases, the original words also written in. Such manuscripts indicate the following contents of the planned collection:


From La Coupe du Roi de Thulé: Rêvons, duo, words by Barbier
Sirène, mélodie, words by Mendès
Aimons, rêvons, mélodie, , words by Ferrier
N’oublions pas, mélodie, words by Barbier
From Clarisse Harlowe: Le Retour, duo, words by Barbier
Les Nymphes des bois, duo, words by Barbier
Aubade, mélodie, words by Barbier
Voyage, mélodie, words by Barbier
La Nuit, mélodie, words by Ferrier
Si vous aimez, mélodie, words by Gille
From Grisélidis: Conte, mélodie, words by Ferrier
Le Gascon, mélodie, words by Mendès
L’Abandonnée, mélodie, words by Gille or Mendès

A fourteenth item was to be Pastel, originally a setting of words by Eugène Manuel called Le Portrait, supplied with new words by Gille.

A curious feature of the collection is that all three duets were also represented as solo songs. Thus Le Retour shares some of its music with Voyage; Rêvons shares some of its music with Aimons, rêvons; and Le Nymphes des bois has almost the same music as La Nuit.

No such collection was published in Bizet’s life time, but in about 1883 Choudens issued a collection under the title Seize Mélodies. This included the eleven solo songs already prepared, another solo song whose origin is unknown, La Chanson de la rose, and four songs extracted from earlier works: one from Ivan IV, two from Noé, and one fashioned from the slow movement of the 2ème Symphonie with words by Ferrier. Whether Bizet included these pieces in his original plan is not known. The songs were also all issued separately with illustrated covers and in two keys. The duets were not included in the collection but were issued separately in 1884-85.

According to Pigot, Guiraud was involved in putting the collection together. He also says that material was drawn from Les Templiers and Geneviève de Paris, but there is no other evidence that any music was ever written for these two projects and only the origin of La Chanson de la rose is unexplained.
Autograph scores:
see individual songs.
Printed scores:
1
pl. no.:

A.C. 5868 (high key), A.C. 5869 (low key)

pages:

title page, blank, Table, blank, Note des Editeurs (4 pages), pictures (4 pages), Choudens catalogue (4 pages), facsimile from Noé, music p. 1–101

date:

Probably printed in 1883, though not published until 1885

ann.:

Choudens Catalogue 1885

copies:

  • F-Pn Vm7 4492 (stamped 1886)
  • GB-NWm (inscribed by Choudens to Gallet)
  • US-BEm (both keys)

2

Choudens continued to issue the collection from later addresses. IMSLP.

3

Schirmer, New York, nos 122 and 141, pl. no. 6092–6099 and 6120–6127, 101 p., 1888, as Vocal album: thirty-one songs: Volume II, in two keys, in French and English (translated by Eugene Oudin). US-NYp.

4

Musyka, Moscow, 1959, 94 p., in French and Russian.D-B

Document:
‘Guiraud a repris tous ces fragments [Clarisse Harlowe], ainsi que ceux de Grisélidis et ceux plus rares de Geneviève et des Templiers ; il les a complétés, interprétant la pensée du Maître toutes les fois que les abréviations venaient interrompre l’idée musicale, tirant parti de tout, même de la moindre phrase, harmonisant ce qui n’était qu’ébauché. Comme les librettistes avaient repris leurs livrets, l’éditeur Choudens a commandé de nouvelles paroles, et les fragments, ainsi complétés et mis au point, ont pu être publiés.’
Pigot, p. 323
Bibliography