The art of vocal writing is the ultimate horizon of French musical teaching, as evidenced by this concert involving the soprano Gabrielle Philiponet, the mezzo-soprano Marie Kalinine, the tenor Artavazd Sargsyan, the baritone Philippe-Nicolas Martin and Thomas Tacquet at the piano : the entire organization of studies at the Paris Conservatory leads to this last stage of theoretical knowledge and in fact the young competitors for the prix de Rome are evaluated on the basis of a cantata, which must demonstrate their mastery of this writing. This prevalence of the lyrical element is explained by the importance that opera and opéra-comique have in France, but it also benefited, at the time of Massenet, the oratorio and mélodie genres. His generation, curious to explore other areas in addition to that of the stage, produces with the same seriousness of commitment also for concert halls and lounges, with the desire to achieve a certain nobility of style in all genres.
