French Music Research Hub at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC) have had international impact on cultural life by enabling 21 performances by 5 leading ensembles in 11 venues across 5 countries.
Research summary
The research and subsequent editions completed by the French Music Research Hub have contributed to a Messiaen world premiere, a modern-day Rameau premiere and significant new realizations of other works by Clérambault and Rameau, providing valuable status events for renowned performers and Arts organizations (e.g. BBC Proms, Oper Komische Berlin, Versailles, Theater an der Wien and Utrecht Early Music Festival).
These previously unheard and revised works attracted 22 radio broadcasts in 12 countries and a global audience through the BBC World Service.
Research background
This research on the key editions created by Christopher Dingle and Graham Sadler, expands upon previous hub research on editions by Thompson, Moore and Mawe at the RBC.
Messiaen wrote the music for Un oiseau in short score, with a few indications of instrumentation, but did not write-up the orchestration. Internationally recognised as a leader in Messiaen research, Dingle’s realisation of the orchestration of Un oiseau drew on two decades of work on Messiae. Dingle’s edition required exceptionally detailed study of the composer’s orchestral voicings within Éclairs and other mature works, with problematic elements tested by performers.
Rameau’s Paroles qui ont précédé le Te Deum is a motet originally written for a concert given for King Louis XV in August 1744 when the king was gravely ill. Subsequently lost, it drew on music from his operas Castor et Pollux and Les Indes galantes. Through his unparalleled knowledge of the primary sources, Sadler’s 2018 reconstruction marries the text for the motet to the material from the operas – that he identified as being the basis of the music.
Sadler is one of the leading Rameau scholars, and his 2016 edition of the 1756 version of Zoroastre is the first in modern times and is a key element of publisher Bärenreiter’s prestigious Rameau complete edition. Sadler combines detailed study of extensive primary sources to create an edition that transparently provides performers with evidence-based practical solutions and alternate readings.
Sadler previously hypothesised that the manuscripts and first editions of La Muse de l’Opéra are not full scores, and a new edition of is the first realisation of this theory into practice, providing the missing parts to enable a full voicing of the music.
Impact and outcomes
The editions created by members of the French Music Research Hub have provided new work, new approaches, and new perspectives on the repertoire involved. These in turn enabled key events where renowned professional performers and arts organisations could present work to international audiences with the opportunity to encounter previously unheard repertoire by major composers.
Dingle’s realization of Messiaen’s, Un oiseau des arbres de Vie (Oiseau Tui), received its world premiere by the BBC Philharmonic under Nicholas Collon at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms.
Sadler’s new edition of the 1756 version of Rameau’s Zoroastre for the landmark Bärenreiter Rameau Opera Omnia received its concert premiere in Montpellier in 2016 by Ensemble Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon.
Sadler’s reconstruction of Rameau’s motet Paroles qui ont précédé le Te Deum enabled the work to have its first performances since 1744 as part of the opening concert of the 2018 Utrecht Festival, one of the leading European early music festivals.
Sadler’s edition of the cantata La Muse de l'Opéra made it possible to recreate the work for the first time in its full orchestral form, enabling internationally renowned baroque specialist Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques to give the first modern performances at Potsdam, Germany in June 2016 and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Austria in August 2017.
