Born in 1828 into French high society, Marie-Félicie-Clémence de Reiset had access to a refined musical education. She trained as a singer with Laure Cynthie Damoreau, having also studied composition with Saint-Saëns and piano with Chopin. In 1851 she married the Viscount of Grandval, but contrary to the social norms of her time, she continued her musical studies and began a career as a composer, which earned her the Prix Rossini in 1880 and the Prix Chartier in 1890. Playing an important role in the Société Nationale de Musique, she became one of the most performed authors in France. This career was not easily achieved. Having published her first work, Sou de Lise, in 1859 under the pseudonym Caroline Blangy, her social position often led her to use this ruse to conceal her true identity. Over the following decades, she produced a vast body of work in the field of sacred music, orchestral music, and chamber music, as well as six operas, piano pieces, and over sixty songs. Her work was often overshadowed by the deep-seated prejudice of the time regarding the presence of women in the world of composition. After being awarded the Prix Rossini in 1880, Camille Saint-Saëns (who dedicated his Oratorio de Noël to Clémence de Grandval) wrote about her pieces: “they would certainly be famous were it not for the author’s flaw, which many consider irredeemable: being a woman”. In 1870, the Stabat Mater premiered and became Clémence de Grandval’s most popular work, joining the regular repertoire of many French churches and concert societies. The piece unfolds like a cantata, with an instrumental introduction, followed by nine vocal numbers (each corresponding to one of the stanzas of the medieval hymn) that feature various combinations of solo voices (arias, duets, trios, and quartets), interspersed with choral interventions. Originally written for choir, soloists, and orchestra, this work was published in 1872 in a version (prepared by the composer herself) for choir and soloists, with accompaniment by piano and organ (harmonium). Although this edition mentions a version for large orchestra, and even the availability of separate parts (probably for hire), neither the full score nor the orchestral parts have survived to present day, and so the original instrumentation remains unknown. Thus, despite attempts to reconstruct the orchestral score from the piano reduction, most modern performances of the Stabat Mater have used the version with piano and organ (or harmonium). This was also the choice made for the present concert. The recreation of musical practice in a nineteenth-century French church, with a small choir from which the solo voices emerge, was also taken into consideration in this interpretation of Clémence de Grandval’s Stabat Mater, which marks the first performance of this unjustly forgotten musical work in Portugal.
— Inês Thomas Almeida · João Vaz —
18 October
Sé do Funchal
Saturday, 9.30 pm
Capella de S. Vicente
Sofia David (soloist), Margarida Vieira, Mariana Moldão Martins, Rita Carvão, sopranos
Salomé Monteiro (solista), Bianca Varela, Catarina Baptista, Rita Meireles, altos
Dinis Rodrigues (solista), Frederico Projecto, João Coutinho, Miguel Líbano Monteiro, tenors
Manuel Rebelo (solista), Henrique Coelho, Martim Líbano Monteiro, Pedro Casanova, basses
Anikó Harangi, piano
Laura Mendes, organ
Pedro Rodrigues, diretion
Clémence de Grandval (1828-1907)
¬ Stabat Mater
› Stabat Mater
› O quam tristis!
› Quis est Homo
› Pro peccatis
› Eia! Mater
› Sancta Mater
› Juxta crucem
› Pac ut portem
› Inflammatus
