Donald Macleod and Anastasia Belina consider the cultural outlets Augusta Holmès and Henri Duparc used to disseminate their ideas and music, with a rare chamber work by Holmès, specially recorded for the series by the BBC Singers, and Duparc's timeless song, Phidylé.

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, including one of her symphonies, have been specially 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 researcher with a particular interest in 19th-century music and women composers.

A celebrated figure by the 1880s, Holmès held a weekly salon of her own where she was able to present her own music, while Duparc was a prominent attendee at the most exclusive musical soirées in Paris.

Duparc: Sérénade Florentine
Thomas Allen, baritone
Roger Vignoles, piano

Duparc: Extase
Sarah Walker, mezzo soprano
Roger Vignoles, piano

Holmès: Pologne
Rheinland-Pfalz Philharmonic
Samuel Friedmann, conductor

Duparc: Le Galop
Romance de Mignon
Thomas Allen, baritone
Sarah Walker, mezzo soprano
Roger Vignoles, piano

Holmès: La vision de la Reine
BBC Singers
Morwenna del Mar, cello
Alison Martin, harp
Annabel Thwaite, piano
Hilary Campbell, conductor

Duparc: Phidylé
Kiri te Kanawa, soprano
Orchestre Symphonique de l’Opera National
Sir John Pritchard, conductor
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