Les Francs-Juges

[kolaboy]

Have the extant bits of this Berlioz Opera ever been recorded? (apart from the overture, of course). According to this website: http://www.hberlioz.com/Libretti/Francs.htm  there was at least a partial performance in 1970. Ironic in that Berlioz late masterpiece Les Troyens was often - to his great chagrin -  performed with not a few cuts...

[mikehopf]

My muddle of a catalogue shows that I have a few Berlioz items that may be of interest to you:

Les Francs-Juges ( Extracts)
La Nonne Sanglante ( Extracts)
8 Scenes from Faust Op.1 ( 1829)
Resurrexit for Chorus & Orchestra ( 1825)
Funeral March from Hamlet
Chant des Chemins de Fer
Nocturne for 2 Voices & Guitar

Some of these may have been recorded by Colin Davis and others.

[adriano]

The Faust Scenes recorded by Charles Dutoit are excellent!
There is also a EMI double CD with Michel Plasson with many Berlioz rarities - and, why not, Gardiner's world premiere recording of "Messe solennelle", in which the Leitmotif of "Symphonie Fantastique" can be heard for the first time.
Berlioz's four Prix de Rome cantatas have been recorded by Harmonia Mundi already in 1996 - an excellent disc!

[kolaboy]

mikehopf, most definitely the first two items on your list. I believe I may have the others...

hadrianus, I had the pleasure of acquiring the "Huit Scenes" from Amazon recently; the claim - by many - that they are "the greatest op.1 in music" is a claim I would not dispute.

Thanks, both of you, for replying

[scottevan]

The fragments  from "Les Franc-Juges" were among the first unsung works I ever heard. Having just given it another listen, I believe that it's among the best of unsung Berlioz, in particular the Trio Pastoral and duo for tenor and baritone. If any of the music that hasn't survived is even close to the quality of what is left to us this would have been an opera to reckon with, especially for a first effort.

The source was an LP (I assume the 1970 recording mentioned.) "Les Franc-Juges" was the "flip side" to other Berlioz works, I believe the solo cantatas.