Concert "The Seven Last Words of the Virgin" - Girard Quartet and M. Steffens, Saturday, November 23 at 8:30 PM

On Saturday November 23rd at 8:30pm in Chartres Cathedral, the Girard Quartet will perform Alexandre Benéteau’s “Les Sept Paroles de la Vierge” (2020).
This work is punctuated by spiritual meditations by philosopher Martin Steffens.

Recommended admission: €15

Dedication after the concert of the double CD released on September 13.

 

The genesis of this work lies in a meeting between the Girard Quartet and the philosopher Martin Steffens, who came up with the idea of an interpretation of Joseph Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross”, punctuated by spiritual meditations, as had been the case for the work’s premiere in 1786.
This encounter also gave rise to the idea of contrasting the Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross with the Seven Words of the Virgin Mary in the Gospels, and of commissioning a work (for string quartet) on this theme from a contemporary composer whose reputation is well established: Alexandre Benéteau.
The Quatuor Girard and Martin Steffens also wanted to make it easier for the general public to come into contact with these musical works, as well as with the texts of the Gospels which are their source. Indeed, while Martin Steffens’ meditations are Christian, they also have a universal dimension and can touch on everyone’s human experience.
Since ancient times, Christian tradition has emphasized the important and discreet presence of Mary in the Gospels. A presence that invites us to follow her son, and that seems to be summed up by her seven words as reported in the four Gospels. It’s a sevenfold presence that naturally joins Christ’s words on the cross.

Girard Quartet
Grégoire Girard (violin), Agathe Girard (violin), Hugues Girard (viola), Lucie Girard (cello)

The Quatuor Girard was born of a shared passion for chamber music that began at a very early age. Trained by the Quatuor Ysaÿe, the Girard Quartet also receives instruction from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the European Chamber Music Academy, the Académie de Villecroze, Musique à Flaine, Proquartet…
Winner of prestigious prizes (Geneva, Académie Maurice Ravel, Fondation Banque Populaire, HSBC…), the Quatuor Girard is soon invited to numerous festivals and venues in France (Théâtre du Châtelet, Les Bernardins, La Folle Journée de Nantes, Le Méjan, the Deauville Festival, La Grange de Meslay, Liszt en Provence…) and abroad as far afield as China, Japan and the United States…
Residencies at the Chapelle Royale Reine Élisabeth de Belgique and the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris were decisive experiences in the development of the Quatuor Girard, which aims to make the quartet, with its remarkably rich history, unrivalled expressive power and light logistics, a formidable asset in democratizing classical music. Highly committed to schools and conservatories, the members of the Quatuor Girard are also the driving force behind the Rosa Musica festival, which brings their native Provence to life in a wide variety of contexts.
The Quatuor Girard is renowned for its involvement in projects that naturally integrate Creation as a source of transmission and enrichment for today’s audiences: These include the setting of Joseph Haydn’s Sept Dernières Paroles du Christ en croix and Alexandre Benéteau’s Sept Paroles de la Vierge alongside Matthieu Stefanelli’s Fleurs du Paradis, a tribute to Notre-Dame-de-Paris; Grégoire Rolland’s Quatuor Cordes tressées, which aims to raise listeners’ awareness of the richness of dialogue between different cultures; and Actes Rituels, a concerto for quartet and orchestra by Charly Mandon commissioned for the centenary of their great-uncle, academician René Girard.

Martin Steffens

Martin Steffens, 47, teaches philosophy in a literary preparatory class in Strasbourg.
A columnist for several national newspapers (La Croix, La Vie, Prier), he is the author of a dozen essays in which he develops personal, Christian-inspired thought, mainly around the theme of consent to being. They include La Vie en bleu (Marabout), L’Amour vrai, Dieu après la peur (Salvator), Rien de ce qui est inhumain ne m’est étranger (Points). Two of his books, Petit traité de la joie and Rien que l’amour, have won awards (Prix de l’humanisme chrétien and Prix des libraires religieux). He is also one of the authors of the Dictionnaire paradoxal de la philosophie (Cerf). He has been collaborating with the Girard Quartet for several years, peppering their friendship with concerts and various creations.

Alexandre Benéteau

After studying at the ENM in Pau, the CRR in Rueil-Malmaison and Paris, and the Université de Paris-Sorbonne IV, Alexandre Benéteau completed his training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, where he won prizes in harmony, counterpoint, fugue and orchestration.
A pianist destined for composition from an early age, he was impervious to the diktats of the avant-garde, and searched long and hard for his voice. The work he considers to be his Opus 1 (a fugue for string quartet) dates from 2001. Neither experimental nor neo-tonal (although Les Sept Paroles de la Vierge sometimes seems to be an exception), his resolutely contemporary style is characterized by a concern for clarity and intelligibility, in line with the French tradition.
Winner of the 2010 Fondation d’Entreprise Banque Populaire and the Seghizzi Prize (Italy) for his vocal piece Succurre Miseris, these distinctions will be decisive for his future career. He writes for soloists, ensembles and orchestras, as he meets new people and receives commissions.