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  • Voice Lessons: French Mélodie in the Belle Epoque
  • Charlène St-Aubin
Voice Lessons: French Mélodie in the Belle Epoque. By Katherine Bergeron. (The New Cultural History of Music.) New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. [xvi, 400 p. ISBN 9780195337051. $29.95.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, index.

In her new monograph, Katherine Bergeron ventures into the world of the French mélodie in the Belle Époque (1880-1920) with the purpose of investigating the short-lived yet prolific art form and exploring "what it meant to those who first enjoyed it—and, more important, why it mattered" (p. ix). Taking her inspiration from a graduate course on Gabriel Fauré and Marcel Proust that she taught in collaboration with a colleague from the French department at Berkeley, Bergeron applies the interdisciplinary approach to the French mélodie as a whole, trusting that such a study will "offer a new angle on our approach to telling history" (p. ix). In order to achieve this goal, Bergeron not only considers the mélodie from a musical perspective but also explains its delicacy and restraint through an exploration of the social, political, and cultural climates of the period.

From the beginning a number of compelling details make the reader appreciate Bergeron's hard work and particular dedication during this project. The author admits to taking voice lessons in order to gain "a unique perspective on [her] subject" (p. xi) and in so doing is able to more clearly take notice of the nuances and style heard on period recordings. With this book, Bergeron also includes a companion Web site (www.soundidea.org/voicelessons [accessed 20 January 2011]) where the reader is encouraged to listen to some of these performances as well as hear the author's informed performance of Fauré's La Chanson d'Eve. This strategy enriches the reading experience and comprehension in a rare yet indispensable way considering the emphasis her research places on performance practice by contemporaries. Another aid, and one that I deplore is not employed more often in other musicological writings, is the marking of the music examples in order to draw the reader's attention immediately to the point under discussion. Finally, it is evident throughout her treatment of the various literary texts that Bergeron possesses a strong understanding and grasp of the French language's nuances, a necessary skill for the study of fin-de-siècle poetry.

Armed with these advantages as well as the directness of her writing style, Bergeron tackles the topic from various angles. Conscious of her audience's interest in music, she begins by providing a brief history of the French mélodie, making sure to point out the ambiguity and sinuosity related to the origins of this genre. Aware of the difficult task involved in clarifying and supporting [End Page 758] such vague notions as "singing without expression" and "the muting of expression in music," Bergeron begins with a thorough examination of Fauré's La Chanson d'Eve (1910), which she believes is representative of the French view of the mélodie as the embodiment of delicacy and restraint. Through this analysis she introduces many of the key themes that will be further explored in the book: quality of voice, French "accent," timbre, l'art de dire.

Beginning in chapter 2, Bergeron assembles a valuable synopsis of the history of mandatory education in France and the development of a common French language for all of French society during the early years (the 1870s and 1880s) of the Third Republic. This results in a background that sheds light on the French obsession of that period for clarté and on how various institutions set the stage for a fixation on pronunciation, which then leads to the concept of the French "accent"—the critical importance placed on sound, speech movement, and physiology. Bergeron presents a detailed account of the various attempts made by modern French linguists during the 1880s to uncover the mechanics of the French language in order to discover the best process by which uniform speech may be achieved among the population at large. Through the introduction of key linguists such as Paul Passy and his early attempts...

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