Romances du Roman d'Estelle

Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian provides a few helpful starting-points for a discussion about the history of Luigi Cherubini’s song collection that is the subject of this critical edition. According to the renowned French dramatist and fabulist the young Italian musician, already famous for successes in his homeland, interrupted the writing of a large-scale composition entrusted to him by one of France’s most important literary figures, in order to devote himself to the Estelle romances.

Cherubini’s music is cast in the form of the romance of the late 18th century: the agogic markings favour slow or moderate tempos (with only one Allegro, one Allegretto con moto and two Allegrettos), with the metre in 2/4 and 6/8 and the keys being major; the couplets are sung to the same music […] and the songs open and close with an instrumental refrain (of at most 25 and 10 bars respectively, as in the first couplet of “Ne méprisez point mon enfance”, I, with Flute obbligato); the melody is “natural” – to use Rousseau’s description – and with little ornamentation, and the range extends to at most a 13th (preferring the ambitus of a 10th and an 11th); the accompaniment, which according to the title page of the collection is intended either for pianoforte or harp, does not under- mine comprehension of the text.