Le Visage nuptial

soprano
contralto
women's choir
orchestra

Le Visage nuptial (The Nuptial Face) is a secular cantata for soprano, contralto, choir of women and orchestra by Pierre Boulez. Originally composed in 1946–47 on a poem^[1] by René Char for two voices, two ondes Martenot, piano and percussion, the work, revised in 1951–52 in a version for voices and orchestra, was premiered on 4 December 1957 in Cologne conducted by the composer. The score was further revised in 1989, removing the quarter tones present in the second and fifth parts of the 1951–52 version, while revising the orchestration. A version with final revisions by the composer was premiered on 25 February 2014 at the Cité de la Musique in Paris during the closing concert of the festival Présences of Radio France.

Instrumentation

The piece is scored for soprano solo, alto solo, women's choir, and an orchestra consisting of nine percussionists:

Woodwinds: 4 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo, 4th doubling on G flute); 3 oboes; English horn; 3 clarinets (1st and 2nd in B♭ and A, 3rd in E♭ and A); bass clarinet in B♭; 4 bassoons (4th doubling contrabassoon)
Brass: 4 horns; 4 trumpets in C; 3 trombones (3rd doubling bass trombone); Tuba

Percussion: timbales; 9 players (see below)
Keyboards: celesta
Strings: 2 harps; 16 violins I; 14 violins II; 12 violas; 10 cellos; 8 double basses

The nine percussion parts are as follows:

Percussion 1: xylophone, sounding an octave lower; glockenspiel, sounding two octaves lower; Japanese wood blocks; pair of crotales, sounding an E₅
Percussion 2: marimba; 2 claves (medium and high); Turkish cymbal, suspended (medium); pair of crotales, sounding a B♭₄
Percussion 3: vibraphone
Percussion 4: set of cowbells, ranged G₃ to A♭₅; 3 tom-toms; 2 Turkish cymbals, suspended (medium, medium-high, and low); Chinese cymbal, suspended; Sizzle cymbal, suspended; claves (low); 2 maracas (medium); pair of crotales, sounding a B₅
Percussion 5: set of steel drums, ranged G₃ to B♭₅; 2 maracas; güiro; 2 Japanese wood blocks; slit wood drum; bass drum; triangle; gong (medium-low); tam-tam (large); pair of crotales, sounding an A₄

Percussion 6: glockenspiel; 4 metal blocks; claves; whip; güiro; 2 maracas; Turkish cymbal, suspended; 2 gongs, sounding B♭₃ and C₄; tam-tam (large, same as Percussion 5); pair of crotales, sounding a D₅
Percussion 7: set of crotales (2 octaves); crotale, sounding an E♭₄; 2 frame drums; 3 Japanese wood blocks; güiro; whip; gong (medium); 2 tam-tams (medium and large)
Percussion 8: tubular bells (2 octaves); snare drum (without snare); 2 conga drums; claves; güiro; large triangle; 2 anvils, medium and large; 2 gongs, high; tam-tam, medium; pair of crotales, sounding an F₅
Percussion 9: 4 bongo drums; 2 maracas; 2 Turkish cymbals, suspended (high, low); large sizzle cymbal; 2 bell plates, sounding B♭₃ and C₄; pair of crotales, sounding a C♯₅

Structure

Conduite: Orchestre traité à la manière d'un orchestre de chambre sans les voix.
Conduct: Orchestra treated like a chamber orchestra without voices.
Gravité: Mouvement lent qui chante l'attente amoureuse en utilisant les micro-intervalles.
Severity: Slow movement singing the amorous expectation using micro-intervals.
Le Visage nuptial: Apothéose de la relation amoureuse.
The Nuptial Face: Apotheosis of the love relationship.
Evadné: Dialectique entre voix intérieures et orchestre du monde extérieur.
Evadne: Dialectic between inner voices and orchestra of the outside world.
Post-scriptum: Rupture du couple, et retour à la solitude avec un orchestre sans les vents.
Postscript: Breaking of the couple, and returning to solitude with an orchestra without winds.

The performance's duration is twenty minutes.

References

^ "Le Visage Nuptial" by René Char

External links

"Le Visage nuptial (1946)" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
Le Visage nuptial, Music Sales Classical
"Pierre Boulez: les traits messins de son Visage nuptial", Le Républicain Lorrain (7 January 2016)
"Le Visage nuptial de Pierre Boulez, dernière version 2014", Classicalnews.com
Irène Deliège, ed. (2003). "Le Visage nuptial – Le Soleil des Eaux". Cinquante ans de modernité musicale: de Darmstadt à l'IRCAM (in French). Sprimont, Belgium: Éditions Mardaga. pp. 59–62. ISBN 9782870098288.