Concerto pour une Voix (''Concerto for one Voice'') is a contemporary classical song written by the French composer

Saint-Preux Saint-Preux (born 1950) is a French composer of contemporary classical music which also combines elements from popular music and electronic music.'' Gramophone'Concerto_pour_une_Voix">"Review:_''Concerto_pour_une_Voix''"_May_1973._Accessed_18_N ...

in 1969, combining elements from

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

and

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

. The piece was first sung by Danielle Licari.

History

Saint-Preux composed the ''Concerto'', his biggest hit, in Poland, where he had been very well seen by the criticism after defending in August 1969, in the

Sopot International Song Festival The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in S ...

, ''La valse de l'enfance'' (''The Waltz of Youth'') with Saint-Preux conducting the symphony orchestra. When Saint-Preux returned to France, René Boyer, head of the music publishers Fantasia, arranged ''Concerto pour une Voix'' and recorded it. Danielle Licari sang it using a

vocalise A vocal warm-up is a series of exercises meant to prepare the voice for singing, acting, or other use. There is very little scientific data about the benefits of vocal warm-ups. Relatively few studies have researched the effects of thesexercis ...

technique similar to

scat singing In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. The song, released on the Disc'AZ label in 1969, made both her career and his. In a few months it had sold over 3,000,000 copies in France alone,'' L'Express''
Issues 991–1002
Presse-Union (1970) p. 43. and gained recognition outside France as well. In the week of 22 August 1970 it entered the charts in Mexico at #10 and Japan at #20, He won

Gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

and a Japanese "Oscar" for the best original music. Since that time ''Concerto pour une voix'' has been recorded by many other musicians, including Maxim Saury, Caravelli, Aimable Pluchard, and

Raymond Lefèvre Raymond Lefèvre (20 November 1929 – 27 June 2008) was a French easy listening orchestra leader, arranger and composer. Biography and career Born on 20 November 1929 in Calais, France, Raymond Lefèvre is best known for his interpretation of ...

. An excerpt from the original Licari version appears in

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

's 1997 album '' The Carnival'', and the song was also performed in André Rieu's 2007/2008 ''In Wonderland'' tour. In the Rieu show, ''Concerto pour une Voix'' was performed by Mirusia Louwerse dressed as an angel singing from high above the orchestra. In 2005, Saint-Preux adapted ''Concerto pour une Voix'' for two singers. This latter version, ''Concerto pour deux Voix'' (''Concerto for Two Voices''), was recorded in 2005 by the composer's daughter Clémence and Jean-Baptiste Maunier who starred in the film, ''

Les Choristes ''Les Choristes'' ("The Chorus" or "The Chorus Singers") is an 1877 pastel on monotype by French artist Edgar Degas. Part of a series of similar works depicting daily public entertainment at the time, it shows a group of singers performing a sc ...

''.

Arrangements

This songs has seen dozens of arrangements and recordings. * Sung by

, 1977 * Sung by Mirla Castellanos, 1974 * Sung by

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...

, 1970 * Sung by

Meagan Duhamel Meagan Duhamel (born December 8, 1985) is a Canadian pair skater. With partner Eric Radford, she is a two-time world champion (2015, 2016), a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, a 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the team event, a 2 ...

, 2010 * Sung by Giorgia Fumanti, 2010 * Sung by Jean-Baptiste Maunier and Clemence, 2011 * Sung by

Zhou Shen Zhou Shen (; born ), also known as Charlie Zhou, is a Chinese singer known for his ethereal voice and wide vocal range, capable of singing soprano. He is best known for his song "Big Fish", which has won 8 awards. In November 2017, Zhou releas ...

, 2022

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Concerto Pour Une Voix 1969 songs French songs