Prompted by the success of Ossian's poetry during the First Empire, the Opéra-Comique commissioned from Méhul a short and gripping work inspired by James Macpherson's Celtic reveries. The composer had the brilliant idea of conjuring up the mists of this Scottish fantasy world in his music by using the ‘grisaille’ sonority of an orchestra without violins. The Gothic coloration of wind instruments with divided violas, the melancholy poetry of the harp and solo horn that frequently emerge from the tutti, contrast with the choruses of warriors and the belligerent strains of Larmor and Uthal. The Hymn to Sleep, an eminently Romantic bardic song, came to be seen as one of Méhul's finest pieces, and was sung over his grave by the Conservatoire students at his funeral in 1817.

Contents of the book (in FR & EN)

Gérard Condé, ‘Uthal’ de Méhul

Hector Berlioz, Méhul dans ‘Les Soirées de l'orchestre’

Étienne-Nicolas Méhul, Quelques réflexions

Bins de Saint-Victor, Dédicace et préface du livret

Journal de Paris, Compte-rendu de la création

Arthur Pougin, Quelques mots sur ‘Uthal’

Synopsis

1 book + 1 CDs – total time: 60'40

Book: hard cover, 140 pages, size 13,5 cm x 21,00 cm, French and English

“Méhul's score is initially intriguing in its dark-tinted, violin-less soundworld, and forward-looking, too – the storm overture, all buzzing violas and wheeling woodwind, isn't a million miles from Wagner's Die Walküre…Christophe Rousset's crisp-sounding orchestra brings the score to life.” (The Guardian)

“Speech and song are seemlessly integrated here, maintaining both dramatic tension and consistency of characterisation throughout. It's hard to imagine a better bicentenary tribute: do listen to it.” Gramophone