ANDRÉ MESSAGER (1853-1929): Passionnément.

Description: Normandy in the Années Folles. Romantic encounters, changes of identity and unexpected comic twists: in Passionnément (1926), Messager places himself at the intersection of café-concert, American popular music and French operetta. As witty as Messager’s music, the libretto, with its flavor of boulevard theatre, offers a genuine manifesto of the French spirit in the years after the First World War and gives the composer scope for touching moments of introspection, such as the sublime waltz song which gives the work its title and the air Dites-vous cue c’était un rêve. French-English libretto. Véronique Gens, Nicole Car (sopranos), Étienne Dupuis (baritone), Éric Huchet (tenor), Munich Radio Orchestra; Stefan Blunier.