XXIè festival musqiues interdites 2026

21st festival in partnership with the cultural season of Saint Victor.

The program for this festival, which will present an overview of 21 years of activity, includes tributes to three major composers who were banned and remain ignored.

Friday, September 25, 2026 – 8 p.m. – Crypts of Saint Victor Abbey Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) – Béla Bartók (1881-1945)

The Musiques Interdites Quartet, formed by soloists from the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra, continues its presentation of composers' final quartets, begun with the 2025 Musiques Interdites festival, by offering Janáček's second quartet and Bartók's final, sixth quartet.

Intimate Letters is the title of Leoš Janáček's second string quartet, written between January 29 and February 19, 1928. It is nicknamed Intimate Letters in tribute to his muse, Kamila Stösslova, a married woman nearly forty years his junior, who strongly influenced his work during the final years of his life. It premiered in Brno on September 11, 1928, performed by the Moravian Quartet. The work consists of four movements: Andante – con moto – allegro, Adagio – vivace, Moderato – adagio – allegro, Allegro – andante – adagio.

Bartók's String Quartet No. 6 in D major was composed in Saanen, Switzerland, and then in Budapest, from August to November 1939. It was the artist's last work in Hungary before he left his country for the United States: dedicated to the Kolisch Quartet, it was premiered in New York on January 20, 1941. The work consists of four movements: Mesto – vivace, Mesto – Marcia, Mesto: burletta – Moderato, Mesto. Each section begins with a slow and melancholy melody (Mesto), introduced by each instrument of the quartet, which progressively invades each movement to form the entirety of the last one.

Sunday, September 27, 2026 – 6 p.m. – Nave of Saint Victor Abbey Two of Shostakovich's final masterpieces, initiating a new and intense, profoundly human dramatic style at the end of his career.

The Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok is a song cycle based on verses by poet Alexander Blok, composed in 1967 for Galina Vishnevskaya, who gave its premiere on October 25, 1967, at the Moscow Conservatory Hall, accompanied by Mstislav Rostropovich on cello, Mieczyslaw Weinberg on piano and David Oistrakh on violin. The cycle consists of seven parts: Ophelia's Song, Gamayun the Prophetic Bird, We Were Together, Sadness Envelops the Sleeping City, The Storm, Secret Signs and Music.

Irina Stopina / Soprano Olivier Lechardeur / Piano Xavier Chatillon / Cello Laura Jaillet / Violin

The Second Cello Concerto in G minor (op. 126), composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1966, is one of Shostakovich's final works and is presented here in a chamber version for cello accompanied by seven instruments. It is often said that this concerto is for cello, two horns, percussion and orchestra. Composed by Shostakovich in spring 1966 during a stay in Crimea, the concerto is dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered it on September 25, 1966, under the direction of Yevgeny Svetlanov conducting the Russian Federation Symphony Orchestra in Moscow.

Writing this concerto was very difficult for Shostakovich, who was then undergoing a stylistic change. In a letter to Glikman dated April 27, 1966, written from a sanatorium in Crimea, Shostakovich described his progress: “I have just finished my second concerto for cello and orchestra. Since this work has no text or literary program, I find it difficult to write anything about it. It is large-scale. It has three movements. The second and third movements are performed without a pause.

In the second movement and at the climax of the third, there is a theme that is very similar to the popular Odessa song ‘Kupite bubliki’ (‘Buy our pretzels’). I could not begin to explain what prompted me to do this. But it is really very similar.” This is one of Shostakovich's richest and most appealing works.

Xavier Chatillon / cello Olivier Lechardeur / piano Julien Desplanque and Ruben Garcia Domenech / horns Mathieu Schaefer and Aurore Bassez / percussion Virgile Aragau / flute and piccolo Frédéric Baron / bassoon and contrabassoon