«Dessus mués» – Discovering the repertoire for countertenors in France in the 17th and 18th centuries

During the 17th and 18th centuries in France, some adult men used their head voice to sing the dessus part: they were called at that time “dessus mués”. In this presentation, we will seek to rehabilitate this now little-known figure, by trying to understand who they were, in what context and what kind of repertoire they sang. We will try to capture a musical idea of these voices, while at the same time providing a working basis for contemporary countertenors wishing to explore this facet of the history of French baroque music.

The counter tenor Arnaud Gluck trained with Carlos Mena, Flavio Ferri-Benedetti and Ulrich Messthaler at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, graduating with a Master’s degree in 2024. He won the 2022 Jeunes Talents competition in Paris with the Ensemble Saint-Honoré, which he co-founded. In August 2024, he won 1st prize at the Biagio Marini International Early Music Competition in Neuburg on the Danube (Germany) with the ensemble Auditu Dignum. In September 2024, he won 2nd prize from the jury and the Gemelli Factory prize at the Froville International Baroque Singing Competition.

     Arnaud Gluck is regularly invited to perform as a soloist in France and Europe, in concerts and operas: he plays Ruggiero in Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso (Oviedo, 2025), Pisandro in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Cremona, 2025), Pastore in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Royal Opera of Versailles, Evian, Vevey, 2024), Cupid in John Blow’s Venus & Adonis (Uzès, Perpignan, Montélimar, Montpellier, 2023-2024), Paggio in Antonia Bembo’s L’Ercole Amante (Stuttgart, Herne, 2023), Pietro in Flavio Ferri-Benedetti’s La Passione di Gesù Cristo (Basel, 2023), etc. He sings under the baton of many great conductors in the world of early music, including Jordi Savall, Stefano Demicheli, Pedro Memelsdorff, Jörg Halubek, Aarón Zapico or Michele Pasotti.