Armand Silvestre in fact wanted to pursue a military career, but ended up working in a senior position in the French Ministry of Finance. He nonetheless devoted himself to his real passion – literature. Numerous composers were inspired by Silvestre’s poetry, first and foremost Gabriel Fauré. Fauré even set Mystère to music before the poem was officially published in the volume Le pays des roses (The land of the roses, 1882). He gave his Mélodie the different title of Le secret: mysterious and melancholy, accompanied by simple, but harmonically rich piano sounds.This art song was originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist.
- ISMN: 9790007299293 (M007299293)
