Le Chasseur maudit (NCPE. Nieweg, Bradburd)

“Le Chasseur maudit” was composed in 1882 as one of César Franck's most significant symphonic poems. The work is based on the ballad "Der wilde Jäger" (The Wild Hunter) by Gottfried August Bürger, which tells of a godless count who rides out hunting even on Sunday and is cursed for it, condemned to race eternally through the skies as the hunted.

Franck develops this dramatic story in four clearly structured sections: the peaceful Sunday rest, the defiant departure for the hunt, the wild pursuit of game, and finally the eternal damnation of the hunter. With masterful orchestration, the composer depicts the transformation of mood from idyllic tranquility to demonic frenzy. Particularly impressive are the hunting scenes with their characteristic horn calls and the ghostly concluding passage.

This edition (NCPE) has been newly prepared by Nieweg and Bradburd according to scholarly standards and provides conductors and orchestras with a reliable musical text. "Le Chasseur maudit" is today considered a pinnacle of 19th-century French program music and demonstrates Franck's extraordinary ability to transform literary sources into gripping orchestral music.