Description
Chrétien Intermezzo
Usually, the musical term Intermezzo evokes Brahms, who wrote quite a few of these character pieces. But here comes a surprising jewel from a Parisian woman-composer of the beginning of the 20th century, dedicated to the famous harpist Lily Laskine. Despite its brief length, (3 pages) it’s filled to the brink with the best of the French spirit, taking the performer and listener on a whirlwind tour of the imagination, with an attitude ranging from cute to sassy, kind of “as you wish”. Her gorgeous harmonies are still perfectly grounded in tonality, yet give off a whiff of lighthearted jazziness, à la Debussy.
Originally from Compiègne, Hedwige Chrétien (1859-1944) enrolled at the Paris Conservatory at age 15 to study everything on offer at that time, winning Premiers Prix in solfège, keyboard studies, harmony, counterpoint and fugue, with Guiraud and Lenepveu as her main theory teachers. As reported by Henri Delépine, her organ teacher, César Franck, appreciated her talent as an improviser, and when she won the Premier Prix in Fugue, the director of the Conservatoire Théodore Dubois, wrote that “Hedwige Chrétien is a perfect musician and one of the most brilliant prize winners of the Conservatoire”. In 1890, she was engaged as Professor of Solfègeat the Conservatoire, but gave up her position by 1892, for health reasons and to devote herself more fully to composition. And compose she did, accumulating an oeuvre of over 250 works of all kinds, which were well-received in her time.
Intermezzo is offered here as a “ready-to-play” edition, showing the original print in an “edited “version that includes fingerings and complete pedaling, as well as some corrections enhancing the exchange of hands and others modernizing the use of accidentals.
A votre plaisir!
