Charles Neustedt: La Marquise (Menuet-Valse)
The French composer Charles Neustedt (1838-1908) seems to have written a few popular gavottes, tyroliennes and operatic fantasies, but I cannot find much information on his life. Probably born in Saumur, he was a sometime 'professor' at the Couvent des Oiseaux and College Rollin. The first of these institutions was a famous Parisian gaol of the French revolution, which was turned into a convent in 1824. The second was a private college in the Rue Lhomond. I guess he may have been what we would now call a peripatetic music teacher. He was obviously well regarded, as I have seen several works by other composers dedicated to him. In 1879 he took over the Flaxland piano manufacturing business for a few years. This attractive piece, from 1872, was dedicated to one of his pupils. The piece is headed by a charming quotation from the French poet François Coppée (1842 - 1908):
"Marquise, vous souvenez-vous
Du menuet que nous dansâmes?
Il était discret, noble et doux
Comme l'accord de nos deux âmes."
This translates as:
"Marquise, do you remember
We danced the minuet?
It was quiet, noble and sweet
Like the meeting of our two souls."
There is a slight mystery here. The piece was published in 1872, but the poem was not published (in 'Le Cahier rouge') until 1873. Saint-Saëns made two vocal settings also before 1873, so I assume that the poem was published singly before the book, or appeared in a journal.
Thumbnail image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay ( https://tinyurl.com/y8snuf4k ).
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Played by Phillip Sear
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