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Agnès Mellon is a french soprano specialized in the baroque repertoire,
born in 1958.
Biography
Agnès Mellon started her career at the beginning of the 1980s
with the baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants
directed by William Christie, with
whom, between 1981 and 1993, she interpreted Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Monteverdi, Luigi Rossi, Michel Lambert, Henry Purcell, Lully,
Michel Pignolet de
Montéclair, Rameau...
She was during the 1980s one of the pillars of that baroque
ensemble, together with Guillemette Laurens, Jill Feldman,
Dominique
Visse, Etienne Lestringant, Michel Laplénie, Philippe Cantor,
Gregory
Reinhart, François Fauché...
Since 1985, Agnès Mellon has also worked a lot under the
direction of Philippe Herreweghe, with La Chapelle
Royale (1985-1990) and the Collegium Vocale Gent
(1990-1996), interpreting Charpentier, Heinrich
Schütz, Monteverdi, Jean
Gilles, Bach...
At the end of the 1980s, she worked regularly with the Belgian ensemble Ricercar
Consort, under the artistic direction of the Belgian musicologist
Jérôme Lejeune.
She further worked with various conductors like Dominique
Visse, René
Jacobs, Marc
Minkowski, John Eliot Gardiner, Christophe
Rousset, Gérard Lesne...
As from the 1990s, she dedicates herself to teaching (Yerres,
Orléans, Orsay); she also participates in Master-Classes (Paris, Montreal, Kyoto)[1].
In 1997, she founded her own baroque ensemble Barcarole, whose
first recording released in 2005 was highly praised.
Agnès Mellon is married with the french counter-tenor Dominique
Visse.
Agnès Mellon has given interpretations of an exceptional
intensity.
She is particularly brilliant in "lamentos" and funeral
airs :
- "Lamento de la Vergine" in Luigi Rossi's 'Oratorio per la
Settimana Santa
- Télaïre's lamento "Tristes apprêts, pâles flambeaux"
in Jean-Philippe Rameau's Castor
et Pollux
- "Plainte de Cloris" in Lully's Georges
Dandin
- "La Mort de Didon" of Michel
Pignolet de Monteclair
- "Pianto di Maria" of Ferrandini
- "Atys est trop heureux" and "Un amour
malheureux" in Lully's Atys
In 1992, she gave an exceptional interpretation of Henry Purcell's
songs, traditionally interpreted only by counter-tenors (Alfred Deller, James Bowman...)
Recordings
Agnès Mellon has made many recordings, most of them in the field
of baroque music[2][3].
With
Les Arts Florissants
- 1981 : Pastorale sur la Naissance de N.S. Jésus-Christ
H.483, In Nativitatem D.N.J.C. Canticum, Marc-Antoine
Charpentier
- 1981 : Altri Canti, Claudio Monteverdi
- 1982 : Les Arts Florissants, Marc-Antoine
Charpentier
- 1982 : Actéon, Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- 1982 : Oratorios (Il pecator pentito, O Cecità del
misero mortale), Luigi Rossi
- 1983 : Un oratorio de Noël (Sur la Naissance de N.S.
Jésus-Christ H.482), Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- 1983 : Il Ballo delle Ingrate, Claudio
Monteverdi
- 1984 : Airs de Cour, Michel Lambert
- 1984 : Médée, Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- 1985 : Le Reniement de Saint Pierre, Marc-Antoine
Charpentier
- 1986 : Dido and Aeneas, Purcell
- 1987 : Atys, Lully
- 1988 : La Mort de Didon, Michel Pignolet de
Monteclair
- 1989 : Oratorio per la Settimana Santa, Luigi
Rossi
- 1991 : Orfeo, Luigi Rossi
- 1993 : Castor et Pollux, Jean-Philippe
Rameau
These recordings were all published by Harmonia Mundi
France.
With La
Chapelle Royale
- 1985 : Motet Pour l'Offertoire de la Messe Rouge
and Miserere H.219, Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- 1987 : Musikalische Exequien, Heinrich
Schütz
- 1987 : Vespro della Beata Vergina, Claudio
Monteverdi (Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale, Saqueboutiers,
Toulouse)
- 1990 : Requiem, Jean Gilles
- 1990 : Magnificat BWV 243, Johann-Sebastian
Bach
These recordings were all published by Harmonia Mundi
France.
With
Ricercar Consort
- 1988 : Deutsche Barock Kantaten (III) (Schein,
Tunder, Buxtehude)
- 1989 : Deutsche Barock Kantaten (V)
(Hammerschmidt, Selle Schein, Schütz, Tunder, Weckmann,
Lübeck)
- 1989 : Motets à deux voix, Henri Dumont
These recordings were all published by Ricercar.
With
Collegium Vocale Gent
- 1990 : Missae BWV 234 & 235, Sanctus BWV 238,
Johann-Sebastian Bach
- 1991 : Missae BWV 233 & 236, Johann-Sebastian
Bach
- 1993 : Kantaten BWV 39, 93 &107,
Johann-Sebastian Bach
- 1996 : Geistliche Chormusik, Heinrich Schütz
These recordings were all published by Virgin Classics
With
Barcarole, founded and directed by Agnès Mellon
- 2005 : Les Déesses outragées, cantates of
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Philippe Courbois and François Colin de
Blamont
Miscellaneous recordings
- 1987 : Die Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz,
Heinrich Schütz, Ensemble Clément Janequin (dir. Dominique
Visse), Saqueboutiers, Toulouse
- 1987 : Duos et Cantates, Carissimi, Concerto
Vocale, dir. René
Jacobs
- 1988 : Les Comédies-Ballets, Lully-Molière, Les
Musiciens du Louvre, dir. Marc Minkowski
- 1988 : Scylla et Glaucus, Jean-Marie Leclair, Monteverdi
Choir & English Baroque Soloists, dir.
John
Eliot Gardiner
- 1992 : Songs from Orpheus Britannicus, Henry
Purcell, interpreted by Agnès Mellon, Christophe Rousset and Wieland
Kuijken
- 1993 : Cantiques Spirituels de Jean Racine,
Pascal Colasse, Les Talens Lyriques, dir. Christophe
Rousset
- 1993 : Motets à une ou deux voix, Daniel
Danielis, Les Talens Lyriques, dir. Christophe Rousset
- 1993 : Leçons de Ténèbres, Office du Vendredi
Saint, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Il
Seminario Musicale, dir. Gérard Lesne
- 2003 : Maria, Madre de Dio (Handel, Ferrandini,
Scarlatti), ensemble Arion, dir. Monica Huggett
Opera
roles
Agnès Mellon has played several opera roles, all of them in the
field of baroque music[1][3] :
- Actéon, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Diane)
- Médée, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (Créuse)
- Atys, Lully (Sangaride)
- Orfeo, Luigi Rossi (Orfeo)
- Castor et Pollux, Jean-Philippe Rameau (Télaïre)
- Scylla et Glaucus, Jean-Marie Leclair (Vénus)
References
- ^ a
b
See biography of Agnès Mellon on her official website
- ^
See discography of Agnès Mellon on her official website
- ^ a
b
See catalogues of Harmonia Mundi France, Ricercar, Virgin Classics,
Astrée, Erato...
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