George

Description

A splendid plunge into the artistic and fraternal world of George Sand, writer, playwright and literary critic, journalist and major intellectual of the 19th century, the author of Consuelo loved the arts, unconditionally. Through delightful surprises, soprano Sonya Yoncheva brings back to life some great figures of 19th-century France, writers and composers. A most delightful evening!
George Sand has fascinated Sonya Yoncheva for a long time. Writer, playwright and literary critic, journalist and intellectual, the lover of Alfred de Musset and then of Frédéric Chopin, and also a friend of Franz Liszt, Pauline Viardot or Marie Dorval, embodies, beyond her singular destiny as a woman - endowed with the superb and complete independence that her era reserved for men - the whole spirit, the very essence of the 19th century. It is first and foremost her boldness, close to fearlessness, that appeals to the Bulgarian soprano. Sand dared throughout her life, and what a source of inspiration her writings are! which, however relevant they may be, on every subject, political, social, cultural, artistic, dazzle above all by their lively and sharp language.
George Sand loved the arts, unconditionally. This program therefore opens the doors to her artistic universe, and brings her loves to life. Her house, her kitchen and her salon come alive again, for an evening in the company of her friends, these artists to whom she was so close and who, respectfully and with tender affection, listened to one another, conversed, laughed and feasted in music and poetry. George Sand did not sing, did not play an instrument. Sonya Yoncheva therefore personifies her by reading us some of her words; they will bear witness to the sparkling, scintillating nature of the “Lady of Nohant”.
What surprises throughout this recital! If the passionate impulses of Alfred de Musset, as fervent as they are often disenchanted, also nourish this journey, as in the sumptuous Nuit de décembre by Ruggero Leoncavallo, more hedonistic moments due to Pauline Viardot, these two Mazourkes (Mazurkas) by Chopin transformed into melodies with slightly cheeky texts by Louis Pomey, or further on the “medley” of the Bohémiennes combining various motifs from Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, delight the heart and the spirit – a very fine tribute to “natural” music, emanating from folklore and popular traditions, which George Sand so often praised with tenderness.