This album features arias from various genres popular in the Romantic era, including opera, opéra-comique, oratorio, and cantatas composed for the Prix de Rome.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The Romantic era, while moving away from the Baroque's mythological elements, frequently used 'visions' in opera to combine mystical and fantastical inspiration.
Compositional Technique
The music on this album uses various techniques to accompany psychological states, from refined scores evoking suspended time to violent harmonies and rhythms.
Compositional Technique
Composers on this album imitate organs, bells, and heavenly voices, and use brass fanfares to disrupt calm piety, adding special color to the music.
Performer Biography
Véronique Gens, the soprano on this album, is known for her "falcon" soprano voice, a central tessitura typical of French Romantic opera.
Compositional Technique
Romantic opera often blurs the line between piety and sensuality, using religion as a palliative for carnal love.
Performer Biography
Véronique Gens has previously revealed unknown operas by composers featured on this album, including David, Godard, Saint-Saëns, and Halévy.
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Icon: Lucia Popp
Opera Arias (Soprano): Norena, Eide - Rossini, G. / Mozart, W.A. / Rimsky-Korsakov, N.A. / Puccini, G. / Verdi, G. / Faure, G. (1930-1934)
