Thursday, May 12, 2016, 8pm First Congregational Church

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor Jérôme Ducros, piano

PROGRAM Gabriel FAURÉ (1845–1924) Clair de lune Green Reynaldo HAHN (1874–1947) En sourdine POLDOWSKI (1879–1932) Colombine Charles BORDES (1863–1909) Ô triste, triste était mon âme

Claude DEBUSSY (1862–1918) Prélude from Suite bergamasque FAURÉ Mandoline PROGRAM

Déodat DE SÉVERAC (1872–1921) Prison (Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit) Ernest CHAUSSON (1855–1899) La chanson bien douce POLDOWSKI Mandoline L’Heure exquise ( La lune blanche)

Emmanuel CHABRIER (1841–1894) Idylle from Pièces pittoresques HAHN D’une prison (Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit)

DEBUSSY Fêtes galantes I, FL. 86 (En sourdine – Fantoches – Clair de lune) Léo FERRÉ (1916–1993) Écoutez la chanson bien douce

INTERMISSION Józef Zygmunt SZULC (1875–1956) Clair de lune André CAPLET (1878–1925) Green HAHN Chanson d’automne Camille SAINT-SAëNS (1935–1921) Le vent dans la plaine (C’est l’extase langoureuse) FERRÉ Colloque sentimental

DEBUSSY “Clair de lune” from Suite bergamasque FAURÉ C’est l’extase CHAUSSON Apaisement (La lune blanche) DEBUSSY Mandoline Arthur HONEGGER (1892–1955) Un grand sommeil noir DEBUSSY L’Isle joyeuse

Fêtes galantes II, FL. 114 (Les Ingénus – Le Faune – Colloque sentimental) Charles TRENET (1913–2001) Verlaine (Chanson d’automne)

Funded, in part, by the Koret Foundation, this performance is part of Cal Performances’ 2015–2016 Koret Recital Series, which brings world-class artists to our community. Additional support provided by Patron Sponsor Françoise Stone. Cal Performances' 2015-2016 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

Why should a countertenor not have the nec - music, perhaps because his poetry creates a vi - essary sensitivity and vocal technique to per - sual rather than an aural world). form French mélodies ? This repertoire has Verlaine was happy for his work to be used in always been a secret passion of mine and fol - this way. Whereas some poets regarded with lowing an earlier recording, Opium , I decided disdain the efforts of composers to “add” some - to put together a second and more ambitious thing to their work—as if their words had any program around the poetry of Paul Verlaine, need of notes!—Verlaine always saw song as the the French poet most frequently set to music. natural extension of his poetry. From his early The choice of songs was huge and I wanted days he had friends who were musicians and he to concentrate primarily on the better-known delighted in such ties. The famous “Music poems and offer several settings of the same above all else,” which opens Art poétique , might text—both the well-known settings by Fauré, then have a dual intent: to make a sound com - Debussy, and Hahn and some hidden gems by position from the poem with its “uneven” the likes of Poldowski, Bordes, and Szulc. I very rhythms and harmonies, which “dissolve in the soon realized that including a few chansons air,” but also to use it as a starting point for that would be an obvious way to show just how artistic fusion so beloved of the Parnassians and many composers Verlaine has inspired in a symbolists who regarded music as being of pre - large variety of periods and that he is still a eminent importance, particularly when Wagner source of inspiration today. (who is referenced in several poems by Ver - I hope that this voyage through the world of laine) presented a model in his dream of a Verlaine proves as attractive as it is surprising. Gesamtkunstwerk , a total work of art. —Philippe Jaroussky Verlaine’s Musical Friendships So far as Verlaine was concerned, music was Verlaine, Music, and Poetry less a rarefied encounter for the cognoscenti, Verlaine’s poetry is doubly musical. We are as in the Wagnerian circles of Mallarmé or drawn into reading Romances sans paroles or Ernest Chausson, and more an adventure Fêtes galantes by the rhythm of the words and shared by friends with a passion for light opera! by the way in which Verlaine plays with At the age of 19, Verlaine counted among his sounds. It all flows naturally. Verlaine has little friends several musicians whom he had met interest in sophisticated effects; if one were to through the Marquise de Ricard. These in - look for an equivalent, he tends more towards cluded the violinist Ernest Boutier, to whom he the brilliant simplicity of Schubert. He is an later dedicated the first section of Poèmes sat - everyday musician who sings directly to our urniens ; the composer Charles de Sivry, a ears and our hearts. But this poetic language major figure on the bohemian scene and at the also became—and this is his second musical Chat Noir (and whose sister, Mathilde, quality—an inexhaustible source of inspiration Verlaine was later to marry); and the young for composers. For the period between the Emmanuel Chabrier, a musician from the 1880s and the present day, the musicologist Auvergne who worked in a clerical role at the Ruth L. White has listed over 1,500 settings Ministry of the Interior, while Verlaine made produced both by classical composers and by his living in a similar job at the Hôtel de Ville. singers like Charles Trenet, Georges Brassens, Office workers by day, artists by night. and Léo Ferré. In this sense, and to an even Verlaine recalled this group of friends some greater extent than Hugo or Baudelaire, years later: “Painters, musicians, although the Apollinaire or Aragon, Verlaine is the true poet latter were few in number as theirs is an art for musicians. So much so that we are led to form which keeps itself and its exponents too wonder why one writer lends himself so per - much apart, were our good friends…. Sivry was fectly to the crossover into music (as opposed, the inspiration (in the divine and rare sense of for example, to Rimbaud, who is rarely set to the word), the life and soul, refinement person - PROGRAM NOTES ified, with the soul of a poet on the wings of a with Rimbaud, he also wrote: “I am putting the bluebird, while Chabrier was as happy as a lark finishing touches to an 18th-century opéra- and as tuneful as a nightingale. They saw them - bouffe that I started two or three years ago with selves as our brothers and set our poems to Sivry. Once the music is completed, it’s for the music just as they were, without wrecking or Alcazar in Brussels which first put on Les Cent ‘embellishing’ them—an enormous kindness Vierges and Madame Angot .” which was acknowledged by boundless grati - No trace of these works remains, but tude and warm good will on the part of listen - Verlaine’s meeting with Gabriel Fauré again il - ers who knew nothing of harmony but lustrates his fondness for light music. His dis - appreciated beauty in all its forms!” Verlaine’s astrous later years were marked by alcoholism, attraction to simplicity of musical line is signif - debauchery, and stays in both prison and hos - icant and no doubt explains his taste for simple pital. Yet, at the same time, he became a living songs during the decade 1860 –1870, when he legend in the eyes of writers and aesthetes from and Chabrier produced two short sketches, one Robert de Montesquiou to Maurice Barrès to entitled “Vaucochard et fils premier” and the Anatole France. Settings of his poems increased other “Fisch-Ton-Kan,” a nickname later used in number. Sacem, the performing rights soci - to refer to Napoléon III. “Fisch-Ton-Kan” con - ety, made a few payments to him but an acute tains early elements of L’Étoile , the opéra-bouffe shortage of money pushed him into becoming composed by Chabrier in 1877, in which involved in other projects that bore little fruit— Verlaine was not involved but which did reprise including the commission for a cantata, which the famous “Couplets du pal.” In the interven - was to be “symbolic, patriotic, or philosophical ing years the two men drifted apart and for a payment of 1,000 francs!!! to be set to Verlaine recalled these happy times in “À music for the city of Paris.” Emmanuel Chabrier,” a poem written in 1888: At the beginning of 1891, Winnaretta Singer de Scey-Montbéliard, the great patron of music Chabrier, we made good friends and I (she was soon to become Princesse de Polig - penned verses to which you later gave nac), approached Verlaine with the idea of join - wings […] My lovely and divinely sweet ing forces with Gabriel Fauré, a regular at her mother lent her piano to your improvis - salon, in a musical and literary collaboration. ing genius. Visiting Verlaine at Saint-Antoine hospital, Fauré wondered “how such a marvellously tal - Verlaine is so closely associated in our minds ented human being can find pleasure in this with the tender and profound poetry of melan - constant to-ing and fro-ing between the bar and choly that this light-hearted streak, which the hospital!” By spring, nothing had been set - prompted him to seek to compete with “Offre- tled. As Fauré’s biographer Jean-Michel Nec - un-bock, Hervé, Léo Delibes, Lecocq and tutti toux writes, it was at this point that Verlaine quanti …” while at the same time writing the proposed “an operatic adaptation of his play Les vivid Poèmes saturniens , comes as quite a sur - Uns et les autres, which didn’t go down too well prise. Yet even the slightest knowledge of bo - with Fauré. Later he announced that he had hemian life in Paris indicates the extent to found another subject, Watteau Hospital.” This which the avant-garde, a bit of fun, the sublime, light comedy was to unfold in a hospital ward and the tragic could all intermingle. Verlaine where Pierrot, Colombine, and Harlequin once took the stage to sing a “comic sketch” by would lie in bed discussing life and love. “I hope his friend Charles de Sivry and did so “in such to have the good fortune to see you soon and a comic manner and with such burlesque give you the first extracts from this operetta,” touches, going from the deep bass of a cathe - Verlaine wrote to the princess, but Fauré chose dral cantor to the falsetto of a ventriloquist’s to abandon the idea. However, that same year dummy, that it quite disconcerted and stunned 1891 did see the birth of Fauré’s first major song the audience.” Some years later, while travelling cycle based on the poems of Verlaine, the five

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

Mélodies “de Venise,” and in 1919, Fauré was to bring Watteau and Verlaine back together in his ballet Masques et bergamasques . Verlaine’s funeral at the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont on January 10, 1896, was conducted by the loyal Charles de Sivry. The young Reynaldo Hahn, whose Chansons grises were said to have moved Verlaine to tears, was among the mourners. Théodore Dubois and Gabriel Fauré were the organists.

Poetry of Sound Songs for voice and piano based on poems by Verlaine appeared in in - creasing numbers over a period of around 10 years. The earliest ex - ample, other than the operettas Verlaine worked on with Chabrier, is a setting of “La lune blanche” (from La Bonne Chanson ) for so - prano and tenor, written by Jules Massenet in 1871. The poem was to become a favourite with com - posers. But these songs really started to become all the rage in the 1880s when Debussy, Charles Bordes, and Gabriel Fauré first tried their hand at writing them, indicating the extraordinary harmony between nance and perfect harmony. Verlaine intro - the sensibilities of the poet and the new gener - duced dissonance, something to which he him - ation of composers. It is noteworthy that the self referred in one of his poems as majority of these adaptations are from Verlaine’s ‘harmoniously dissonant harmony’ and as ‘a early collections: Poèmes saturniens (1866), harmony of discord,’ as well as irregular and Fêtes galantes (1869), La Bonne Chanson (1870), changeable rhythm. There was a clear affinity and Romances sans paroles (1874), although that drew composers like Fauré or Debussy to - there are also some from the later works Sagesse wards him because the same freedom, the same (1880) and Jadis et Naguère (1884). variety, the same subtlety of rhythm are to be In a study published in 1949 in the journal found in Verlaine’s poetry as are to be found in Contrepoints, the poet René Chalupt tries to ex - their music.” plain the attraction of Verlaine’s verse: “The This freedom was to provide the aesthetic original thing about Verlaine was that he link between the language of the writer and brought a new kind of music to his poems. modern French music. But the taste that com - Before him, any musical aspect of early French posers had for Verlaine stemmed also perhaps verse, then classical verse, then romantic verse, from the constant presence of sound references was based on symmetrical rhythms, on conso - in his poetry, such as his choice of titles for PROGRAM NOTES

“Mandoline” (“Mandolin”) and “En sourdine” ful collections: Ariettes oubliées (1888), which (“Muted”) and the decision to name one com - includes both volumes—this time “official ver - plete collection La Bonne Chanson (The Good sions”—of Fêtes galantes, reprising “En sour - Song ). Fêtes galantes was initially subtitled “Suite dine,” “Fantoches,” and “Clair de lune” and pour clavecin” (“Suite for harpsichord”), antic - including “Les Ingénus,” “Le Faune,” and ipating Debussy’s taste for Couperin and “Colloque sentimental.” Rameau. Musical instruments also feature as In 1886, soon after Debussy produced his characters in his poetry, in which we hear fifes, early sketches, his contemporary Charles flutes, and drums. Nature has its own poly - Bordes became one of the first significant com - phony in “La lune blanche” (“From each branch posers to publish a collection of songs based on a voice takes flight beneath the leafy boughs”). the poems of Verlaine, including “Ô triste, triste Musical notes appear, for example “do, mi, sol, était mon âme” (from Ariettes oubliées ). Bordes mi, fa” in “Colombine.” But it is mainly the died young; he is best known today as the joint sound of voices, living or absent—“The lilt of founder of the Schola Cantorum, which was to dear voices now dead”—and even whispering train generations of composers in the style of that we hear in these verses, as reflected in César Franck and in early music. Of course it “Colloque sentimental”: was Gabriel Fauré who, after Debussy, was to compose the most beautiful collection of Thus they walked on through the waving Verlaine songs, beginning in 1887 with the fa - cornfields, and only the night heard their mous “Clair de lune,” Op. 46, No. 2, and carry - words. ing on in 1891 with the Cinq Mélodies “de Venise,” Op. 58, begun during a stay on the René Chalupt wrote: “Verlaine converts al - Grand Canal as a guest of Winnaretta Singer. most everything into sounds and makes these The songs were taken from Fêtes galantes and sounds work together in gentle harmony. With Romances sans paroles . Fauré later set nine him, the sensation is auditory rather than visual poems from La Bonne Chanson , initially for or related to touch, smell, or any other sense.” voice and piano (1892) and later for voice and For the same reason, composers who set string quartet (1898). The French director and Verlaine to music were able to develop their writer François Porcile sees this cycle as “the work in different directions—matching the most sensitive, the most accurate, the most rhythm of the poem, working to translate the moving rendering of Verlaine’.” poetic feel, but also trying to recreate the sound The third composer to set Verlaine exquis - world suggested by the text. itely to music was Reynaldo Hahn, a student of Massenet who first made a name for himself Composers and Verlaine in 1893 with Chansons grises . From an early The 19-year-old Debussy was the first to really age he was the darling of the Paris salon world, reflect the genius of Verlaine musically in sev - particularly when he sang and accompanied eral early songs from Fêtes galantes : “Clair de himself at the piano. Hahn was a regular at lune,” “Pantomime,” “Fantoches,” “Mandoline,” soirées organised by Alphonse Daudet, met and “En sourdine,” the manuscripts for which Mallarmé, performed several of his songs for are dated 1880 –1881. The young Debussy’s Verlaine, and exchanged a number of letters keen taste for literature may have been colored with him (one of them now in the possession by childhood memories, for at the age of eight of the singer François Le Roux). The repeated he studied the piano with a student of Chopin, setting of the same texts by different com - Madame Mauté, the mother of Charles de Sivry posers gives us, apart from anything else, and Verlaine’s mother-in-law, and he may have an exciting opportunity to compare their caught a glimpse of the poet during his lessons. styles. In “Chanson d’automne” (1891), “D’une After these sketches of 1881 –1882, Debussy re - prison” (1892), and “En sourdine” (1914), turned to Verlaine in some of his most beauti - Hahn often comes across as the one with the

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES greatest talent for bringing out the music of the Wieniawski and set a number of Verlaine’s language with apparent ease. poems, including “Mandoline” (1913), “La lune Verlaine’s poetry was arranged by other late blanche” (1913), and “Colombine.” 19th-century composers, including the Wag - Verlaine’s musical artistry extended into an - nerian Ernest Chausson, who was close to sym - other area in a way that raises interesting points bolist circles. He set “La lune blanche” in 1885 about the particular nature of French music and (as “Apaisement”), followed by “Écoutez la its links with poetry. There is no main stress in chanson bien douce” from Sagesse in 1898 . the language here. It is quite monochrome but Déodat de Séverac wrote a new arrangement of rich in nuance and inflexion and perhaps lends “Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit” in 1897 (as itself less easily to highbrow musical styles than “Prison”), and there is even a 1913 setting by an to the informal tone of song, with its verses and aging Camille Saint-Saëns of the first of Ariettes choruses, its way of expressing things by hum - oubliées (“C’est l’extase langoureuse”) which, ming. There are parallels with medieval and rather curiously, he renamed “Le vent dans la Renaissance composers. In the Baroque era, plaine”—in an echo of the poem’s epigraph, court music and the operas of Lully sought which Verlaine took from a play by Favart (the to capture the kind of simplicity to which Opéra-Comique again): “Le vent dans la plaine, Dubussy aspired in a different way in the almost suspend son haleine….” Gregorian austerity of Pelléas et Mélisande. Verlaine, of all the poets, is probably the one Poetry, Melody, and Song who achieves this delicate balance most intu - Ravel described Verlaine as “an exquisite singer” itively. It is for this reason that popular song and the taste for his poetry among composers writers were to regard him as a brother, begin - continued into the 20th century (including set - ning with Charles Trenet, who set “Chanson tings by Stravinsky and Stockhausen). André d’automne” to music in 1941 as “Verlaine” (re - Caplet, like his mentor Debussy, wrote a setting placing the words “wound my heart” with of “Green” in 1902, during a stay at the Villa “soothe my heart,” which better suited the opti - Medici. Arthur Honegger revisited “Un grand mism of Le Fou chantant !). In 1964 Léo Ferré sommeil noir” from Sagesse in 1943. Inter - produced an entire album of songs to poems by estingly, there is also input from two composers Verlaine and Rimbaud, including “Écoutez la of Polish origin. Józef Zygmunt Szulc arrived in chanson bien douce,” set wonderfully to music. Paris as the 20th century dawned and went on Ferré was to return to Verlaine in 1986 with a to become a master of French light opera, pro - new version of “Colloque sentimental.” Verlaine ducing successes such as Flossie and Sidonie remains the most consummate embodiment of Panache but also Dix mélodies sur des poèmes the meeting between French music and poetry de Verlaine (1907), of which “Clair de lune” was across the most diverse range of genres. recorded by the great Nellie Melba. Régine —Benoît Duteurtre, 2015 Wieniawski, known as Poldowski, was the Translation: Elaine Guy daughter of the composer and violinist Erato/Warner Classics TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Note: Each of the songs on tonight’s program is set to a poem by Paul Verlaine. Many of these poems will be heard multiple times, in settings by different composers. e pages that follow provide texts for each of the Verlaine poems. A list of the musical settings to be performed, and their composers, appears at the upper right, in blue .

Poems by Paul Verlaine (1844 –1896)

Clair de lune Settings by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Gabriel FAURÉ Clair de lune (Deux mélodies, Op. 46, No. 2)

Claude DEBUSSY Clair de lune (Fêtes galantes I, No. 3)

Józef Zygmunt SZULC Clair de lune (Dix mélodies, Op. 83, No. 1)

Votre âme est un paysage choisi Your soul is a choice landscape where Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques charming maskers and bergamaskers pass to Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi and fro, playing the lute and dancing and Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques. almost sad in their fantastic disguises.

Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur They sing the while in the minor mode L’amour vainqueur et la vie opportune of conquering love and the easy life, Ils n’ont pas l’air de croire à leur bonheur they do not seem to believe in their happiness Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune, and their song mingles with the moonlight,

Au calme clair de lune triste et beau, With the calm moonlight, sad and lovely, Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres that makes the birds dream in the trees Et sangloter d’extase les jets d’eau, and the fountains sob with ecstasy, Les grands jets d’eau sveltes parmi les marbres. those tall, svelte fountains among the marbles.

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Green Settings by: From Romances sans paroles (1874) Gabriel FAURÉ Green (Cinq mélodies “de Venise,” Op. 58, No. 3)

André CAPLET Green

Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des Here are fruit, flowers, leaves and branches, branches Et puis voici mon coeur qui ne bat que pour and here is my heart, which beats only for vous. you. Ne le déchirez pas avec vos deux mains Do not tear it with your two white hands, blanches Et qu’à vos yeux si beaux l’humble présent and may this humble present be sweet in your soit doux. lovely eyes.

J’arrive tout couvert encore de rosée I come covered in dew, Que le vent du matin vient glacer à mon front. which the morning wind freezes on my forehead. Souffrez que ma fatigue à vos pieds reposée Let my fatigue, as I rest at your feet, Rêve des chers instants qui la délasseront. dream of dear moments that will refresh me.

Sur votre jeune sein laissez rouler ma tête On your young breast let me lay my head Toute sonore encore de vos derniers baisers; still ringing with your last kisses; Laissez-la s’apaiser de la bonne tempête, let it calm itself after the pleasant tempest, Et que je dorme un peu puisque vous reposez. and let me sleep a little now that you are resting.

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En sourdine Settings by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Reynaldo HAHN En sourdine (Les Chansons grises, No. 4)

Claude DEBUSSY En sourdine (Fêtes galantes I, No. 1)

Calmes dans le demi-jour Calm in the half-light cast Que les branches hautes font, by the lofty branches, Pénétrons bien notre amour let us permeate our love De ce silence profond. with this deep silence.

Fondons nos âmes, nos coeurs Let us mingle our souls, our hearts, Et nos sens extasiés, our senses in ecstasy Parmi les vagues langueurs among the vague murmurings Des pins et des arbousiers. of the pines and arbutus trees.

Ferme tes yeux à demi, Half close your eyes, Croise tes bras sur ton sein, fold your arms on your bosom, Et de ton coeur endormi and let your sleeping heart Chasse à jamais tout dessein. empty itself forever of all thought.

Laissons-nous persuader Let us be wooed Au souffle berceur et doux by the lulling and gentle Qui vient à tes pieds rider breeze that crinkles the russet grass Les ondes de gazon roux. at your feet.

Et quand, solennel, le soir And when evening descends solemnly Des chênes noirs tombera, from the oaks, Voix de notre désespoir, the nightingale will sing, Le rossignol chantera. the voice of our despair.

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Colombine Setting by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) POLDOWSKI Colombine

Léandre le sot, Leander the fool, Pierrot qui d’un saut Pierrot hopping too De puce like a flea Franchit le buisson, and leaping the wood, Cassandre sous son Cassander with hood Capuce, Monkishly Arlequin aussi, and then Harlequin, Cet aigrefin si that scoundrel of sin Fantasque fantastic, Aux costumes fous, mad-costumed so, Ses yeux luisants sous his eyes a-glow, Son masque, can’t mask it, – Do, mi, sol, mi, fa, – – Do, mi, so, mi, fa, – Tout ce monde va, all from wide and far, Rit, chante go laughing Et danse devant sing for her, dancing Une belle enfant that arch little thing Méchante enchanting Dont les yeux pervers whose eyes perverse Comme les yeux verts green or something worse Des chattes like a cat, Gardent ses appas cry, in her charms’ cause, Et disent: «À bas “Ah, mind where your paws Les pattes!» are at!” – Eux ils vont toujours! – Ever and on they go! Fatidique cours Fateful stars that flow Des astres, the faster, Oh! dis-moi vers quels oh, say, towards what Mornes ou cruels cruel or dismal lot, Désastres what disaster L’implacable enfant, this implacable flirt, Preste et relevant nimbly lifting her skirt, Ses jupes, her troops, La rose au chapeau, a rose in her hair, Conduit son troupeau leads onward there, De dupes? her dupes?

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Ô triste, triste était mon âme Setting by: From Romances sans paroles (1874) Charles BORDES Ô triste, triste était mon âme

Ô triste, triste était mon âme Oh, sad, sad was my heart, À cause, à cause d’une femme. because, because of a woman.

Je ne me suis pas consolé I found no consolation Bien que mon coeur s’en soit allé, though my heart had gone away,

Bien que mon coeur, bien que mon âme though my heart, though my soul Eussent fui loin de cette femme. had fled far from this woman.

Je ne me suis pas consolé, I found no consolation Bien que mon coeur s’en soit allé. though my heart had gone away.

[Et mon coeur, mon coeur trop sensible [And my heart, my too sensitive heart Dit à mon âme: Est-il possible, said to my soul: Is it possible,

Est-il possible, – le fût-il, – is it possible, – was it, – Ce fier exil, ce triste exil? this proud exile, this sad exile?

Mon âme dit à mon coeur: Sais-je My soul said to my heart: Do I myself Moi-même que nous veut ce piège know what this trap wants from us, this trap

D’être présents bien qu’exilés, of being present even when exiled, Encore que loin en allés?] even though gone far away?]

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Mandoline Settings by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Gabriel FAURÉ Mandoline (Cinq mélodies “de Venise,” Op. 58, No. 1)

POLDOWSKI Mandoline

Claude DEBUSSY Mandoline

Les donneurs de sérénades The serenaders Et les belles écouteuses and the lovely listeners Échangent des propos fades exchange banal chatter Sous les ramures chanteuses. beneath the singing branches.

C’est Tircis et c’est Aminte, It is Tirsis and Aminte Et c’est l’éternel Clitandre, and the eternal Clitandre Et c’est Damis qui pour mainte and Damis, who for many Cruelle fait maint vers tendre. a cruel lady composed many a tender verse.

Leurs courtes vestes de soie, Their short silk doublets, Leurs longues robes à queues, their long gowns with trains, Leur élégance, leur joie their elegance, their joy Et leurs molles ombres bleues and their soft blue shadows

Tourbillonnent dans l’extase Whirl in the ecstasy D’une lune rose et grise, of a pink and grey moon, Et la mandoline jase and the mandolin babbles Parmi les frissons de brise. amid the quivering breeze.

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Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit Settings by: From Sagesse (1880) Déodat de SÉVERAC Prison

Reynaldo HAHN D’une prison Vingt mélodies I, No. 16

Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit, The sky above the roof, Si bleu, si calme! so blue, so calm! Un arbre, par-dessus le toit, A tree, above the roof, Berce sa palme. waves its crown.

La cloche, dans le ciel qu’on voit, The bell, in the sky I watch, Doucement tinte. gently rings. Un oiseau sur l’arbre qu’on voit A bird, on the tree I watch, Chante sa plainte. plaintively sings.

Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, la vie est là, My God, my God, life is there Simple et tranquille. simple and serene. Cette paisible rumeur-là That peaceful murmur there Vient de la ville. comes from the town.

– Qu’as-tu fait, ô toi que voilà – O you, O you, what have you done, Pleurant sans cesse, weeping without end, Dis, qu’as-tu fait, toi que voilà, say, O say, what have you done De ta jeunesse? with all your youth?

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Écoutez la chanson bien douce Settings by: From Sagesse (1880) Ernest CHAUSSON La chanson bien douce

Léo FERRÉ Écoutez la chanson bien douce

Écoutez la chanson bien douce Hear the sweetest song pass Qui ne pleure que pour vous plaire. that weeps for your sole delight. Elle est discrète, elle est légère: It is discreet and so light: Un frisson d’eau sur de la mousse! a water-drop trembling on glass! La voix vous fut connue (et chère?), A voice known to you (and dear?) Mais à présent elle est voilée but at present misted and veiled Comme une veuve désolée, like a widow desolate, assailed, Pourtant comme elle encore fière, yet like her still proud, it appears, Et dans les longs plis de son voile and in the long folds of a veil Qui palpite aux brises d’automne, stirred by the autumn breeze, Cache et montre au coeur qui s’étonne hidden, to startled heart reveals La vérité comme une étoile. the truth like the star so pale. Elle dit, la voix reconnue, It says, that voice you know, Que la bonté c’est notre vie, that our life is goodness at last, Que de la haine et de l’envie that hatred and envy pass, Rien ne reste, la mort venue. nothing’s left, death lays all low. Elle parle aussi de la gloire It speaks to us also of glory D’être simple sans plus attendre, of humility, of asking no more, Et de noces d’or et du tendre and the marriage of golden ore Bonheur d’une paix sans victoire. to sweet joy of peace without victory. Accueillez la voix qui persiste Welcome the voice that persists Dans son naïf épithalame. in its naive epithalamium, Allez, rien n’est meilleur à l’âme nothing more for the soul, now, come, Que de faire une âme moins triste! than to render soul-sadness less. Elle est en peine et de passage, It is hard-pressed, and passing by, L’âme qui souffre sans colère, the suffering soul without anger, Et comme sa morale est claire! and the moral is all too clear! Écoutez la chanson bien sage. Listen to the song that is wise.

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La lune blanche Settings by: From La Bonne Chanson (1870) POLDOWSKI L’Heure exquise

Ernest CHAUSSON Apaisement

La lune blanche The white moon Luit dans les bois; gleams in the woods. De chaque branche From each branch Part une voix a voice takes flight Sous la ramée… beneath the leafy boughs…

Ô bien-aimée. Oh my beloved.

L’étang reflète, The pond reflects Profond miroir, like a deep mirror La silhouette the silhouette Du saule noir of the black willow Où le vent pleure… where the wind weeps…

Rêvons, c’est l’heure. Let us dream, this is the hour.

Un vaste et tendre A vast and tender Apaisement appeasement Semble descendre seems to fall Du firmament from the firmament Que l’astre irise… iridescent with stars…

C’est l’heure exquise. This is the exquisite hour.

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Fantoches Setting by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Claude DEBUSSY Fantoches (Fêtes galantes I, No. 2)

Scaramouche et Pulcinella Scaramuccio and Pulcinella, Qu’un mauvais dessein rassembla drawn together by some evil design, Gesticulent, noirs sur la lune. gesticulate, black under the moon. Cependant l’excellent docteur Meanwhile, the excellent doctor

Bolonais cueille avec lenteur from Bologna is slowly picking Des simples parmi l’herbe brune. medicinal herbs from the brown grass. Lors sa fille, piquant minois, And his saucy-faced daughter Sous la charmille, en tapinois, secretly slips into her bower,

Se glisse demi-nue, en quête half undressed, looking De son beau pirate espagnol, for her handsome Spanish pirate Dont un langoureux rossignol whose distress a loving nightingale Clame la détresse à tue-tête. is proclaiming at the top of his voice.

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Chanson d’automne Setting by: From Poèmes saturniens (1866) Reynaldo HAHN Chanson d’automne (Les Chansons grises, No. 1)

Charles TRENET Verlaine

Les sanglots longs Long sobs Des violons of the autumn De l’automne violins Blessent mon coeur wound my heart D’une langueur with a monotonous Monotone. languor.

Tout suffocant Stifled Et blême, quand and pale, when Sonne l’heure, the hour chimes, Je me souviens I remember Des jours anciens days long past Et je pleure; and I weep.

Et je m’en vais And I drift along Au vent mauvais in the evil wind Qui m’emporte carrying me off Deçà, delà, this way, then that, Pareil à la as if I were Feuille morte. a dead leaf.

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C’est l’extase langoureuse Settings by: From Romances sans paroles (1874) Camille SAINT-SAëNS Le vent dans la plaine

Gabriel FAURÉ C’est l’extase (Cinq mélodies “de Venise,” Op. 58, No. 5)

C’est l’extase langoureuse, It is languorous ecstasy, C’est la fatigue amoureuse, it is the fatigue of love, C’est tous les frissons des bois it is woods shivering Parmi l’étreinte des brises, in the wind’s embrace; C’est, vers les ramures grises, it is, over towards the grey branches, Le choeur des petites voix. the chorus of tiny voices.

Ô le frêle et frais murmure! Oh, the frail, fresh murmur! Cela gazouille et susurre, It babbles and whispers, Cela ressemble au cri doux it resembles the soft cry Que l’herbe agitée expire… that the waving grass exhales… Tu dirais, sous l’eau qui vire, It is like the muffled sound of grinding pebbles Le roulis sourd des cailloux. under the rolling waters.

Cette âme qui se lamente This soul, which is lamenting En cette plainte dormante in a dormant moan, C’est la nôtre, n’est-ce pas? it is ours, is it not? La mienne, dis, et la tienne, It is mine, tell me, and yours, Dont s’exhale l’humble antienne whence emanates the humble anthem Par ce tiède soir, tout bas? on this warm evening, so quietly.

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Colloque sentimental Settings by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Léo FERRÉ Colloque sentimental

Claude DEBUSSY Colloque sentimental (Fêtes galantes II, No. 3)

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé, In the old solitary and frozen park Deux formes ont tout à l’heure passé. two forms recently passed by.

Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles, Their eyes are dead and their lips are slack, Et l’on entend à peine leurs paroles. and one can barely hear their words.

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé, In the old solitary and frozen park Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé. two spectres recalled the past.

– Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne? – Do you remember our ecstasy of long ago? – Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu’il m’en – Why would you want me to remember it? souvienne?

– Ton coeur bat-il toujours à mon seul nom? – Does your heart still beat at the sound of my name? Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve? – Non. Do you still dream of me? – No.

– Ah! les beaux jours de bonheur indicible – Ah, those lovely days of unutterable happiness, Où nous joignions nos bouches! when our mouths joined in kisses! – C’est possible. – Possibly.

– Qu’il était bleu, le ciel, et grand, l’espoir! – The sky was so blue, our hope was so great! – L’espoir a fui, vaincu, vers le ciel noir. – Hope has fled, vanquished, toward the dark sky.

Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles, Thus they walked on through the waving cornfields, Et la nuit seule entendit leurs paroles. and only the night heard their words.

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Un grand sommeil noir Setting by: From Sagesse (1880) Arthur HONNEGER Un grand sommeil noir

Un grand sommeil noir A long black sleep Tombe sur ma vie: descends upon my life: Dormez, tout espoir, sleep, all hope, Dormez, toute envie! sleep, all desire!

Je ne vois plus rien, I can no longer see anything, Je perds la mémoire I am losing my remembrance Du mal et du bien… of good and evil… Ô la triste histoire! Oh, the sad story!

Je suis un berceau I am a cradle Qu’une main balance rocked by a hand Au creux d’un caveau: in the depth of a vault. Silence, silence! Silence, silence!

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Les Ingénus Setting by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Claude DEBUSSY Les Ingénus (Fêtes galantes II, No. 1)

Les hauts talons luttaient avec les longues jupes, High heels fought against long skirts En sorte que, selon le terrain et le vent, so that, depending on the terrain and the wind, Parfois luisaient des bas de jambes, trop souvent an ankle could sometimes be glimpsed, too often Interceptés!—et nous aimions ce jeu de dupes. intercepted! And we liked this fool’s game. Parfois aussi le dard d’un insecte jaloux Sometimes too, a jealous insect’s sting Inquiétait le col des belles sous les branches, bothered the pretty girls’ necks beneath the branches. Et c’était des éclairs soudains de nuques blanches, And there were sudden flashes of white napes Et ce régal comblait nos jeunes yeux de fous. on which our young, wild eyes regaled themselves.

Le soir tombait, un soir équivoque d’automne: Evening fell: an equivocal autumn evening. Les belles, se pendant rêveuses à nos bras, The pretty girls, dreamily hanging on our arms, Dirent alors des mots si spécieux, tout bas, whispered to us such beguiling words Que notre âme, depuis ce temps, tremble et that our souls, ever since, have trembled in s’étonne. surprise.

Le Faune Setting by: From Fêtes galantes (1869) Claude DEBUSSY Le Faune (Fêtes galantes II, No. 2)

Un vieux faune de terre cuite An old terracotta faun Rit au centre des boulingrins, laughs in the middle of the grass Présageant sans doute une suite promising, no doubt, a bad end Mauvaise à ces instants sereins to this present serenity Qui m’ont conduit et t’ont conduite, which has led me and led you, – Mélancoliques pèlerins, – two melancholy pilgrims, Jusqu’à cette heure dont la fuite to this moment passing Tournoie au son des tambourins. in a clash of tambourines.

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor ), at just 38 Jaroussky made his stage debut in the United years old, has established himself as one of the States in 2011 in the title role of Agostino major singers in the world, winning newcomer- Steffani’s Niobe, regina di Tebe in Boston. In of-the-year and artist-of-the-year awards at 2012, he performed with Cecilia Bartoli at the the French Victoires de la Musique as well as Salzburg Festival in a production of Handel’s Echo Klassik awards in 2008 and 2009 (with Giulio Cesare and as a result of this collabora - L’Arpeggiata). His vast repertoire ranges from tion was invited by Bartoli to record Steffani Monteverdi, Sances, and Rossi to Bach, Handel, duets on her album Mission. and Vivaldi. Lately, Jaroussky has also explored After a nine-month sabbatical, Jaroussky re - the very different repertoire of French mélodies turned to the stage in September 2013 with the accompanied by the pianist Jérôme Ducros. Venice Baroque Orchestra and Andrea Marcon, Increasingly interested in contemporary music, performing at more than 50 concerts world - Jaroussky has performed a song cycle com - wide (including appearances here in Berkeley posed by Marc-André Dalbavie from the son - with Cal Performances and in Paris, Moscow, nets of Louise Labbé. He also joined in the Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Madrid, Barce lona, creation of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Only the New York, Chicago, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Sound Remains at the Dutch National Opera & Tokyo, and Hong Kong). Ballet in Amsterdam this past March. Jaroussky has collaborated with some of the Jérôme Ducros (piano ) was born in France and best Baroque ensembles in the world, including studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Freiburger Barockorchester, Il Pomo d’Oro, de Musique de Paris. Since then, he has enjoyed Accademia Bizantina, Les Arts Florissants, Le a brilliant career, performing at prestigious Concert d’Astrée, L’Arpeggiata, Concerto Köln, venues in cities including Paris, Tokyo, London, Ensemble Matheus, Les Musiciens du Louvre Geneva, Rome, Berlin, Amster dam, and New Grenoble, Orfeo 55, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, York. As a soloist, he has appeared with ensem - Europa Galante, Australian Brandenburg bles such as Phil harmonie de Chambre de Paris, Orchestra, I Barocchisti, Apollo’s Fire, Anima Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de Eterna, and the Venice Baroque Orchestra. Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre National de He has performed to great acclaim in the Lille, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, and the most prestigious festivals and concert halls Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under the around the world and has been an exclusive baton of conductors including Emmanuel artist with Erato-Warner Classics for many Krivine, Marc Minkowski, Christopher Hog - years. His album of Vivaldi arias, Heroes, wood, and Sergiu Comissiona. recorded with Ensemble Matheus, received a A highly respected chamber musician, he has Disque d’Or award, a Choc du Monde de la appeared in a duo with Jérôme Pernoo since Musique, and a Grammophone award, and his 1995. Ducros has also toured with soprano album Tribute to Carestini (with Le Concert Dawn Upshaw to London, New York, Salzburg, d’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haim) was named and Paris (recording for Erato). In 2007, he Album of the Year at the Victoires de la began his collaboration with Philippe Jaroussky. Musique (2008) and the Midem Classical Recent recordings include works for piano and Awards (2009). orchestra by Fauré under the baton of Moshe Jaroussky’s albums Opium and Green , collec - Atzmon (Quartz), a recital with Renaud Capu - tions of French mélodies , have also enjoyed sim - çon (Virgin Classics), a Beethoven program ilar success. with Jérôme Pernoo, and the French mélodies In 2002 he founded Ensemble Artaserse, heard on this evening’s program. Jérôme Du - which currently performs throughout Europe, cros is also a composer. His trio for two cellos and with which he has recorded Pieta , focused has been performed a number of times on sacred music of Vivaldi, as well as Virtuosi throughout Europe and is published by Cantatas. Editions Billaudot.