Musical composition for a cappella choir, four mixed voices SATB by Jacques Barathon (1938-2003), text anonymus.
A poem in three stanzas that the composer chose to treat homorhythmically, using the same E mode for the first two stanzas, ending with an E minor tone. This score is representative of the composer's concerns: diversity of modes and rhythms, adherence to prosody with this 7-beat measure. This gives the whole text a fluidity reminiscent of the music of late 16th-century composers measured in the antique manner. An allusion to the Renaissance for a poem called Renaître?
It will suit choirs that love beautiful texts and wish to present polyphonies that combine originality and accessibility.
The lyrics are easy to memorize, the rhythm should pose no major problems, and the vocal range is reasonable.
A must-have!
Publication in partnership with Centre de Documentation pour l’Art Choral - La Cité de la Voix
Performance time : 3 minutes
🎶 à l'écoute : Choeur "Les métaboles", Léo Warynski 🎶
The composer :
Jacques Barathon (1936-2003), master choirmaster, organist, pianist, leader and founder of several vocal ensembles, directed numerous choirs in Thouars, Angers, Parthenay, Orléans and the Paris region. In 1986, he founded the "Chœur de Chambre des Deux-Sèvres".
A tireless pedagogue, he was director of the Thouars and Parthenay music schools, in charge of teaching at the Centre d'Études Polyphoniques et Chorales de Paris, then director of the Centre de Formation à l'Art Polyphonique de Poitou-Charentes.
He was director of Editions Musiluc and a founding member of Chemins de Musique en Poitou-Charentes.
In addition to his harmonizations of the popular and variety repertoire, he has composed numerous vocal works on poems by often regional authors, and has honored several state commissions.
His writing reflects the richness of his musical experiences: from Gregorian modes to jazz, via knowledge of the greatest polyphonists, he was influenced by the ancients but also anchored in his time. In his search for a new language, particularly in terms of modes, rhythms and the relationship between text and music, he demonstrated great freedom, breaking away from traditional forms through his encounters with texts.
