When he was awarded
the Prix de Rome in 1897 for his cantata
Comala Op.14, Jongen was
by no means a beginner. He had already
composed two substantial, large-scale
works, his First String
Quartet Op.3 and his Piano
Trio Op.10, both of which play
for nearly three quarters of an hour.
The cantata was followed by another
major, but long-neglected work, Jongen’s
only Symphony Op.15 completed
in 1899.
The text of the cantata,
by Paul Gilson after Ossian, is a typical
Prix de Rome libretto, often pretentious
and would-be symbolic or philosophical,
more often downright silly. This actually
seems a common characteristic of most
similar texts. The miracle, and it has
always been a cause of wonder to me,
is that composers nevertheless managed
to write satisfying scores on such abstruse
librettos. Many fine operas are of course
written to librettos of dubious literary
quality. Jongen’s Comala
and Caplet’s Myrrha are
marvellous examples of what gifted composers
may achieve with such texts. Gilson’s
text was in three parts, but the composer
did not set the third one, for obvious
dramatic – and logical – reasons. Indeed,
in the second part, Comala prepares
to take her life at the news of Fingal’s
death; but at the very end of the second
part, the warriors’ chorus hail Fingal’s
unexpected return!
Needless to say, Comala
is a quite early work in Jongen’s output
in which there is very little of the
composer’s mature music. What comes
through clearly, however, is the mastery
of the young composer who is already
in full command of his skills, albeit
still in a fairly traditional manner.
So, the first part
(set for soloists and male chorus) is
full of martial, war-like music replete
with menacing or heroic fanfares as
well as almost operatic duos and airs.
The second part calls for the whole
forces and musically speaking is, to
some extent, more personal. The orchestral
introduction to Part II is simply magical
and its atmospheric mood gives a foretaste
of Jongen’s later music. The cantata
was revived in Liège early last
year at the opening concert launching
the Année Jongen, after
more than a century of neglect. To tell
you the truth, I did not really expect
what I actually heard. The music displays
a remarkable dramatic flair that Jongen
never exploited in his later output.
Comala is in fact the
nearest Jongen ever got to opera; and
one cannot but wonder what an opera
by Jongen could have been like, had
he composed one during his mature years.
This recording was
made at the time of the piece’s revival
when it was performed by the same forces.
All concerned deserve our gratitude
for their commitment and dedication.
Clair de lune
Op.33 is the first of the Two
Piano Pieces Op.33 (1908) which
the composer orchestrated in 1915 when
he was in England. This is a typical
Jongen work in which the composer’s
affinities with the musical Impressionism
of Debussy and Ravel is evident, as
it is in most of his mature output.
The orchestral version is really very
fine and may be compared with the original
piano version played here by Marcelle
Mercenier (from a long-cherished LP
released many years ago and responsible
for the present writer’s addiction to
Jongen’s music).
This is a major release
for all Jongen fans; but it should also
appeal to any music lover relishing
lush romantic music of great beauty
and of direct appeal.
Hubert Culot
Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège et de
la Communauté Wallonie-Bruxellesab/Jean-Pierre
Haeckab