Donald Macleod and Anastasia Belina explore the lives and music of Augusta Holmès and Henri Duparc, beginning with their early years, and including Duparc's L'invitation au voyage and a symphony by Holmès, which was specially recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Imagine creating a grand spectacle that demands 1,200 performers, along with the most lavish sets and costumes. You might think that the figure behind such an extraordinary achievement would have staked a claim on immortality, yet despite achieving considerable fame in her own lifetime, this is not the fate that befell Augusta Holmès. Over the passage of time her name has disappeared into obscurity, whilst that of her direct contemporary, Henri Duparc has grown and prospered. These days he’s regarded as one of the leading figures of French song, yet it’s still the case that relatively little is known about his life.

In Duparc’s case his is a reputation built on the slenderest of musical means, some seventeen mélodies. By contrast, Holmès’s Ode triomphale, which was written to mark the centenary of France’s 1789 revolution, is the largest of a generous collection of large-scale orchestral works, to which you can also add four operas, the last of which was mounted at the Paris Opera in 1895, as well as considerable catalogue of songs.

To shed light on Holmès's music, several of her works have been recorded by the BBC Performing Groups, as part of the Forgotten Women Composers project, which was developed by the BBC in association with the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Helping Donald Macleod uncover more about the little-known Augusta Holmès and Henri Duparc, is Anastasia Belina, a music historian with a particular interest in 19th-century music and women composers.

Holmès’s musical aspirations didn’t get off to a flying start, as her mother, who was a painter, held an aversion to music, while Duparc’s family saw their son’s eventual future in Law.

Duparc: Chansons triste
Margaret Price, soprano
James Lockhart, piano

Duparc: Aux étoiles
Lyon Opera Orchestra
Pierre Bleuse, conductor

Holmès: Trois petites pièces for flute and piano
Juliette Hurel, flute
Hélène Couvert, piano

Holmès: Rolando Furieux
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Valentina Peleggi, conductor

Duparc: L’invitation au voyage
Felicity Lott, soprano
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Armin Jordan, conductor

Produced by Johannah Smith for BBC Wales. Show less