Le Visage nuptial

Le Visage nuptial (The Nuptial Face) is a secular cantata for soprano, contralto, choir of women and orchestra by Pierre Boulez. Originally composed in 1946–47 on a poem[1] by René Char for two voices, two ondes Martenot, piano and percussion, the work, revised in 1951–52 in a version for voices and orchestra, was premiered on 4 December 1957 in Cologne conducted by the composer. The score was further revised in 1989, removing the quarter tones present in the second and fifth parts of the 1951–52 version, while revising the orchestration. A version with final revisions by the composer was premiered on 25 February 2014 at the Cité de la Musique in Paris during the closing concert of the festival Présences of Radio France.

Le Visage nuptial
Cantata by Pierre Boulez
The composer in 1968
EnglishThe Nuptial Face
Textpoem by René Char
LanguageFrench
Composed1946 (1946)–47, revised 1951 and 1989
Performed4 December 1957 (1957-12-04): Cologne
Scoring
  • soprano
  • contralto
  • women's choir
  • orchestra

Instrumentation

The piece is scored for soprano solo, alto solo, women's choir, and an orchestra consisting of nine percussionists:

The 9 percussion parts are as follows:

Structure

1 Conduite: Orchestre traité à la manière d'un orchestre de chambre sans les voix.

  • (Conduct: Orchestra treated like a chamber orchestra without voices.)

2 Gravité: Mouvement lent qui chante l'attente amoureuse en utilisant les micro-intervalles.

  • (Severity: Slow movement that sings the amorous expectation using micro-intervals.)

3 Le Visage nuptial: Apothéose de la relation amoureuse.

  • (The Nuptial face: Apotheosis of the love relationship.)

4 Evadné: Dialectique entre voix intérieures et orchestre du monde extérieur.

  • (Evadné: Dialectic between inner voices and orchestra of the outside world.)

5 Post-scriptum: Rupture du couple, et retour à la solitude avec un orchestre sans les vents.

  • (Post-script: Breaking the couple, and returning to solitude with an orchestra without the winds.)

The performance duration is twenty minutes.

References
  1. Le Visage Nuptial by René Char
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