Leon d'Ourville

Soirees Musicales for piano duet

The circumstances of Léon d'Ourville's life and times remain shrouded in mystery. Although the Soirées Musicales originally appeared in print over one hundred years ago, it is, at the time of writing, impossible to find any hard evidence about when or where d'Ourville lived; indeed nothing can be presently reported concerning anything to do with his life or circumstances. One of the more plausible (if speculative) ideas to be considered is that the name d'Ourville may be a nom de plume, but it will take further research to take the story forward. The villages of Ourville-en-Caux and Saint-Lo-d'Ourville (in Upper and Lower Normandy respectively) might offer a clue but, again, there is no evidence at present to substantiate this suspicion. The musical style of these masterpieces is essentially that of Schumann - the titles all suggest a fascination with people and places (The Reaper's Song and In the Garden), moods and nature (Slumber Song and The Lake). The harmonic and melodic invention is of a particularly high order, and the compositions themselves could easily pass as being by Schumann, such is the craftmanship and sensitivity on display. The eighteen piano duets that make up the complete Soirées Musicales appeared originally in four volumes published by Augener Edition, with titles given in English, French and German. Evidence from contemporary news items points to these duets as having been published in the 1880's, and the thirty-three works by d'Ourville held in the British Library would suggest somewhere between 1879-1900. From this one might assume d'Ourville to have been born c.1830-1850. His country of birth, work and death all remain a mystery. I have chosen eleven of these pieces and edited them in a way that is intended to make performance of the pieces clearer. The original edition was heavily edited, resulting often in inconsistent musical advice. I have eliminated much of this editing, preferring to leave the performer to follow his/her own instinctive musical thinking. In general, it seems to me that less editing means more musical freedom, and I would encourage the performer to experiment in these matters. Graeme Humphrey