Overview

The twenty-first century has witnessed a surge of scholarly interest in the French art song, or mélodie, with a flood of new books, articles, and editions. This Companion draws on the best of this new research, with chapters by world-renowned scholars and performers examining French art song through the practicality of performance, both pianistic and vocal. The book surveys the repertory chronologically from the 1820s into the 1950s, covering all the central composers (Berlioz, Gounod, Fauré, Debussy, Duparc, Chausson, Ravel, Poulenc, Messiaen, and many more). It includes chapters on the role of women in the creation, performance, and diffusion of French song; the analysis of French prosody and poetic forms; the position of the mélodie in French literary history; and the interpretation of mélodie in performance. Scholars, students, performers, and music lovers will find thorough and up-to-date resources to enable them to explore this crucial yet understudied song repertory.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stephen Rumph (University of Washington)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781316514474

ISBN 10:   1316514471
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   19 February 2026
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available, will be POD  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon it's release. This is a print on demand item which is still yet to be released.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Acknowledgments; Author biographies; List of musical examples, figures, and tables; 1. Song and the French poetic tradition Vincent Vivès; 2. French versification and song: interconnected worlds David Hunter; 3. Romance to mélodie? The trajectory of Berlioz's songs Julian Rushton; 4. The mélodie comes of age (Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Massenet) Steven Huebner; 5. Fauré's individual songs and collections Roy Howat; 6. Debussy's early songs: finding his compositional voice Marie Rolf; 7. The Franckist-Wagnerian strain (Duparc, Chausson, Chabrier) Andrew Pau; 8. Women and French song Annegret Fauser; 9. Fauré's song cycles Stephen Rumph; 10. Debussy's mature songs Denis Herlin; 11. Ravel and his contemporaries Emily Kilpatrick; 12. Poulenc and his circle: le style quotidien Byron Adams; 13. Olivier Messiaen Stephen Broad and David Evans; 14. Interpreting French art song François Le Roux; Guide to further reading; Index.

Reviews

Author Information

Stephen Rumph is Professor of Music History at the University of Washington. His publications include Mozart and Enlightenment Semiotics (2011), The Fauré Song Cycles: Poetry and Music, 1861-1921 (2020), and the co-edited Cambridge Fauré Studies (2021).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions