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Musicology:
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La Belle Isabeau, (first version), H.94Year: 1843
Genre: Solo Song / Lied / Chanson
Pr. Instrument: Mezzo-Soprano
This song is one of Berlioz's most striking, with its dramatic vocal lines, the powerful accompaniment, and the use of a choir. As the woman tells the story, the "once upon a time" elements are rather ballad-like, the dialog between Isabeau and the knight is used for characterization (particularly his seductive repeated "Venez...nous serons de retour"), and the piano depicts the thunder and lighting of the storm both in the story and the storm that is approaching as she tells the story. The chorus enters in the last lines of each refrain, with a rather unsettling effect, as she tells the children to kneel and pray.
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© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.
