ABSTRACT

It may have been Berlioz's Neuf melodies (1830), his settings of texts from Moore's Irish Melodies, that gave rise to the use of the word 'melodie' when describing songs more musically sophisticated than the simple romance. Richault and other publishers usually described their editions of Schubert's songs as 'melodies', while reviewers were inclined to call his songs 'German romance'. The romance style is, in fact, never far away from even the most imaginative 'melodies' which, if they slip into a simpler expression, irresistibly recall the earlier form and the world of the salons which nurtured them. Song writing occupied David throughout his career. Like Berlioz, Morel turned to the writing of musical criticism to gain an income, his fellow writers on Le Monde musical seeing to it that their young colleague also gained good press as a composer. Lightheartedness and wit were not dominant features of romanticism and French songwriting of the period was no exception.