L’heure bleue’ is this fleeting moment between the end of the night and the dawn, this moment of silence, uncertainty and promise where the suspended life is locked up or transformed …

This project was born out of Marianne Piketty’s desire to link the luminous work of Hildegarde de Bingen to the Funeral Concerto by Karl Amadeus Hartmann.

The German composer, fiercely opposed to Nazism, chose internal exile in 1933, refusing to take part in any cultural life but wishing to testify. Each of his works are denunciations and calls to resistance. His concerto, written in 1939 and dedicated to his four-year-old son, is a real cry against human blindness but also a work that aims to bring hope and a deep faith in the future of humanity.

This music, with dark aspects, is brought into resonance with the heavenly music of Hildegarde de Bingen. At the same time abbess, composer, doctor and writer, she was known to have been inspired from childhood by many divine visions. The three Visions chosen are three founding pillars which guide towards the light.

In order to question the 21st century, we placed an order with Philippe Hersant who wrote A Vision of Hildegarde, which is like a link between these two worlds – mystical vision and hell vision.

The two pieces for string octet by Shostakovitch complete this program, echoing the quotes from the concerto. Shostakovich was only eighteen years old when he composed these two movements which were dedicated to the poet friend Volodia Kurtchavov, who died prematurely. In these pieces, all the visceral force that strikes in Shostakovich’s work is unleashed and never leaves the listener indifferent.

Beyond a succession of works which could exist by their only eloquence, force and beauty, it is a question of plunging in a sensorial and intellectual experience which recalls that it is neither the places nor the times which determine our passions.