Juliette Dillon [Godillon] Contes fantastiques

[Wheesht]

The 2023 Boîtes à Pépites advent calendar featured a recording of one of the Contes d'Hoffmann [Tales of Hoffmann] by this French pianist, organist, composer and journalist. The pianist, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, makes a very convincing case for this work if this particular 'conte' is anything to go by. Neuburger played the entire work last August at the Husum Piano Rarities Festival and will play it again in Paris on 3 June this year. It is to be hoped that there will be a recording of this substantial work with a duration of around 75 minutes.

According to a letter by Juliette Dillon that was quoted in the cultural journal Vert-vert in August 1854, she originally composed the Contes for large orchestra. Most likely this orchestral version was never published and must be considered lost.

Here's a translation of what the Bru Zane website says about her and this work:

Despite her short life, the career of Juliette Godillon, aka Dillon, (1823-1854) turned out to be quite exceptional. Born in Orléans, she learned to play the piano from her mother, a music teacher. From the age of 9 to 11, she was entrusted to the care of organist Marius Gueit (1808-1864), who taught her harmony. Showing real talent, the young girl was taken to Saint-Germain-en-Laye at the age of 14, in the hope that by moving closer to the capital she would be able to exploit her talents in concert. But it was in Meaux that she managed to carve out a place for herself. In 1844, she took up the organ loft at the cathedral and was heard there in the salons. Her conquest of Paris included composing and publishing ten pieces inspired by Hoffmann's Contes fantastiques. Between the first and second collections of this work (1848), a typographical change appeared in her name: Juliette Godillon became Juliette G. Dillon, the surname the composer adopted from then on when performing in public. In the early 1850s, she impressed audiences at her Paris concerts with her talent for improvisation. At the same time, she was active as a journalist, first as the editor of a feuilleton in Le Moniteur parisien (1851), then as the creator and main editor of two titles: L'Avenir musical (1852) and Le Progrès musical (1853). She died suddenly of an illness at the age of 30, without having had time to publish all her works, leaving us with the regret of not being able to know her scherzo La Fête des sorcières or a piece entitled Homère.

Hoffmann's Contes fantastiques, adapted for piano, were published in Paris by Edmond Mayaud in 1847 and 1848 in two editions of five pieces. At the time, the composer had been organist at Meaux Cathedral for four years, and she was counting on their success to gain her due recognition in the musical world of the capital. This appeal did not go unanswered: she performed her Contes on 17 March 1853 in the concert hall of the Bazar Bonne-Nouvelle. Adolphe Adam judged that "few piano pieces offer such real and varied interest" (L'Assemblée nationale, 28 March). Jules Lecomte, in Le Siècle, found that "the very idea [of the work] denotes a power of will and a boldness of inspiration that are both pleasing and astonishing" (30 March). Unlike the great pianists of the time, Dillon only occasionally ventured into the realm of demonstrative virtuosity. She apologises for this in the preface to her score: 'I have only accepted the traits and difficulties, which performers are so quick to triumph over today, insofar as they seemed to me to be appropriate to complete an effect; I have avoided them in all other cases'. Her aim was to translate into notes certain passages of the news that had been selected, sometimes indicated above the staff by a short note. At a time when Liszt, in his Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), was adapting Petrarch's sonnets for the piano or proposing his reading of Dante, the young woman was also adding a stone to the Romantic edifice, building a bridge between the literary and musical arts.

The French journal 'Pianiste' has this:

3 questions for Jean-Frédéric Neuburger

What is the background to Juliette Dillon's "Contes fantastiques"?

It's a major work, the missing link in French Romantic piano, before Franck, Debussy... It was written between 1850 and 1853, before Liszt's Sonata (1853), before Gounod's Faust. It is linked to the French contemporary music that was to emerge at the end of the 1850s and 1860s. It preceded Bizet's L'Arlésienne, Carmen and Les Pêcheurs de perles. I was immediately bowled over when I discovered Juliette Dillon's scores. It's a remarkable cycle lasting about an hour and fifteen minutes. Ten pieces designed to be linked together, but which can also be played on their own.

What is the background of this composer?

She was an organist at Meaux Cathedral, like many good composers. This places her firmly within a great musical tradition. Schumann was a great organist, as were Mendelssohn, Liszt and all the great French composers of the 19th century: Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Niedermeyer, Widor, Vierne... with the exception of Berlioz and Gounod.

What are the criteria for judging the value of a work unearthed in this way?

Quite simply, it's the inspiration that emanates from the work. And the workmanship, the technique of the composition. This is a truly accomplished work. The thematic references within each tale are all perfectly in place, the modulations are in the Lisztian, Berliozian tradition. What I liked was the innovative aspect. If I had discovered music written in 1850 that could have been written in 1815, I wouldn't have been interested at all. I'm in favour of this approach, which consists of classifying a work in relation to its period. Here we have a composer who created with the most cutting-edge language and who was inspired by the Tales of Hoffmann. Offenbach later used the same themes.

[Wheesht]

The recording of the entire cycle for the Mirare label is in the pipeline but currently no date has been set. Perhaps this thread should be moved to the Recordings & Broadcasts section at some point.

[Alan Howe]

Your wish...

[Wheesht]

Thank you.

[Alan Howe]

Try this video (in French - as mentioned above):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN84ETEpIVM

[Alan Howe]

Just wondering why Alkan isn't mentioned in connection with this music...

[Wheesht]

Good point.