Friday, May 1, 2015, 8pm First Congregational Church

Les Arts Florissants William Christie, musical direction & harpsichord

PROGRAM

Airs sérieux et à boire

Michel Lambert (1610–1696) D’un feu secret je me sens consumer

Le repos, l’ombre, le silence

Ah, qui voudra désormais s’engager

Il faut mourir plutôt que de changer

François Couperin (1668–1733) Épitaphe d’un paresseux Les Pellerines I. La Marche II. La Caristade III. Le Remerciement

Lambert Iris n’est plus, mon Iris est ravie

Bien que l’amour fasse toute ma peine

Joseph Chabanceau de La Barre (1633–1678) Quand une âme est bien atteinte

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704) Intermèdes nouveaux du Mariage forcé (H. 494)

INTERMISSION

CAL PERFORMANCES PROGRAM

Lambert Chantez petits oiseaux dans la saison nouvelle

Pour vos beaux yeux, Iris mon amour est extrême

Que d’Amants séparés languissent nuit et jour

Honoré D’Ambruys (fl. ca. 1650–1702 ) Le doux silence de nos bois

Charpentier Ayant bu du vin clairet (H. 446)

Auprès du feu (H. 447)

Beaux petits yeux d’écarlate (H 448)

Lambert Jugez de ma douleur en ces tristes adieux

Il est vrai, l’amour est charmant

Tout l’Univers obéit à l’Amour

LES ARTS FLORISSANTS

William Christie musical direction & harpsichord Emmanuelle de Negri soprano Anna Reinhold mezzo-soprano Reinoud Van Mechelen high tenor Marc Mauillon baritone Lisandro Abadie bass Florence Malgoire violin Tami Troman violin Myriam Rignol viola da gamba (basso continuo) Thomas Dunford theorbo (basso continuo)

Les Arts Florissants receive financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the City of Caen, and the Région Basse-Normandie. They are artists in residence at the Théâtre de Caen. IMERYS and ALSTOM are Sponsors of Les Arts Florissants.

This tour is supported by the American Friends of Les Arts Florissants.

Support for this performance is provided by The Bernard Osher Foundation and by Patron Sponsors Earl and June Cheit. Cal Performances’ – season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

HAT IS AN AIR DE COUR ? The term was a singing teacher in the late 1630s and then as Wfirst coined in 1571 , when Adrien Le a performer a few years later. He received the Roy published a collection of songs for voice support of several important patrons, includ - and lute entitled Livre d’airs de cour mis sur le ing Cardinal Richelieu and Anne Marie Louise luth. The term “ air de cour ” was adopted in de Montpensier (daughter of Gaston preference to that of “ voix de ville ” which even - d’Orléans), at whose home he first met a musi - tually became corrupted to “ vaudeville .” It cally gifted young page from Florence who had refers to a simple air that can be sung by any - recently Frenchified his given Italian name to one, laborers, and ladies’ maids alike. However, Jean-Baptiste Lully; Lambert reportedly taught in the 17th century, this popular genre gravi - Lully to play violin. Lambert married in 1641 tated from the street to the salon where it be - and made career inroads at the court of Louis came fashionable amongst the rich and XIII with the help of his sister-in-law, Hilaire aristocratic who adopted it with extraordinary Dupuy, a singer there in entertainments, sacred fervor. It was to become serious, joyful, and music, and ballets. In 1651, Lambert began ap - even licentious by turns and was haunted by pearing as a dancer in the ballets produced at lovelorn shepherds and solitary longings. The court by the future Louis XIV. Five years later air de cour requires exponents specialized in its he first published some of his airs de cour , and performance: Pierre de Nyert and Michel in 1661 he was appointed Maître de la Musique Lambert, Lully’s father-in-law, were the most de la Chambre du Roi. The following year, illustrious of its champions. As early as 1984, shortly after he was made superintendant of the William Christie and Les Arts Florissants took royal music, Lully married Lambert’s daughter, an interest in them with a first recording on Madeleine. During the 1660s, Lambert con - the Harmonia Mundi label devoted to the work tributed vocal numbers to his son-in-law’s bal - of Michel Lambert. The current program ex - lets, composed airs de cour prolifically, and plores all the possibilities of the air de cour , a supervised the education of pages in the royal genre that can also be performed by groups of chapel and the training of the court choristers. voices, male and female alike, depending on He continued in his duties at court until his what is appropriate: the serious airs tell of the death, in in 1696. Other than his pieces pains of love, whereas the drinking songs in - added to Lully’s ballets and a few sacred works, vite joyful companions to sing of pleasure and Lambert’s creative output consists entirely of licentiousness, in counterpoint to the lovers’ airs de cour , a genre of accompanied secular moans. This concert is also the opportunity to song that became an important source of hear music by Joseph Chabanceau de la Barre French opera. More than 300 of Lambert’s airs and the rarely heard Honoré d’Ambruys. are extant, though it is thought that a like num - Les Arts Florissants ber have been lost. , the pioneer - ing librettist of French opera, compared * * * Lambert to the mythological lyre player when he called him the “Amphion of our time.” Michel Lambert (1610–1696), the leading ex - ponent of the late-17th-century air de cour , was François Couperin (1668–1733 ), nicknamed among the most important French composers, even during his lifetime “ le grand ” (“the great”) singing teachers, violinists, and dancers of the both as a mark of respect and to distinguish age of Louis XIV. Lambert was born in 1610 in him from his eponymous uncle, was the most Champigny-sur-Veudes, 200 miles southwest important member of a family of musicians of Paris, and educated as a choirboy in the prominent around Paris from the late 16th chapel of Gaston d’Orléans, the elder brother century to the mid-19th century: Couperins, of Louis XIII, and in Paris. He remained in including François’s father, Charles, occupied Paris, where he established a reputation first as the organ loft of St. Gervais in Paris for 173

CAL PERFORMANCES PROGRAM NOTES years . Charles died when François was just com poser Ferruccio Bonavia, Couperin was eleven, but the boy had already displayed such “the courtly composer par excellence .” His talent that the church council voted to hold the works were famed for being unfailingly elegant post at St. Gervais for him until he was 18, dep - and melodious, rich but not excessively chro - utizing Michel-Richard Delalande as organist matic in harmony, clear in design, expressive during the interim. Couperin gradually took without being maudlin, and current with the over Delalande’s responsibilities, and he was best musical fashions of the day. formally appointed organist of St. Gervais in 1683; he held the post until he died in 1733. His Joseph Chabanceau de La Barre (1633–1678) reputation was sufficient that he was named was a member of the third generation of a one of four organists to the court of Versailles family that was prominent in French music in 1693, having also established himself as a from the late 16th to the early 18th century. composer with such instrumental works as trio His grandfather Pierre was an organist in Paris sonatas in the style of Corelli and organ Masses. who first entered the historical record in 1567. Couperin’s appointment at court enabled Five of Pierre’s children became musicians, in - him to acquire several aristocrat ic pupils and cluding Pierre II, who was organist of the to build his personal fortune to such a degree royal chapel and Joseph’s father. The specifics that he was able to buy himself a patent of no - of Joseph’s education are unknown, though he bility and move from his modest quarters over - would inevitably have been thoroughly looking the cemetery at St. Gervais to an trained in the family’s livelihood, and he took imposing dwelling in the Rue St. François in over the court organist’s position upon his fa - 1697. By the turn of the century, he was ap - ther’s death, in 1656; a brother and sister also pearing regularly as harpsichordist and com - worked at court as, respectively, a harpsi - poser at the court’s musical events, though he chordist and a singer. In 1674, Joseph was was not officially given the title Ordinaire de granted an income-producing benefice at the la Musique de la Chambre du Roi pour le Benedictine abbey in Carcassonne in recogni - Clavecin until 1717. Just one year earlier, his tion of his services to the court. He died in Paris pedagogical treatise L’art de toucher le clavecin four years later. His few works include a dozen appeared; it was one of the era’s most impor - dances for harpsichord and 18 airs de cour . tant manuals concerning the ornamentation and performance of French keyboard music. At Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704) was the same time, Couperin published the first of one of the chief musical glories of the age of four large volumes of Pièces de clavecin , which Louis XIV as a composer of sacred and oper - contain over 200 separate items, including atic works. Though Jean-Baptiste Lully, the dances, rondeaux and numbers with fanciful or unquestioned dictator of French 17th-century descriptive titles inspired by friends, feelings or music by royal decree, prevented him from fashions; Le Sœur Monique , for example, refers obtaining an official position at court, to his daughter, who entered a nunnery. Charpentier has come to be regarded by many Couperin also composed several books of as second to no composer of his time in his ( Concerts Royaux ; Les Goûts genius and the quality of his music. Réünis ; Les Nations ; Le Parnasse, ou L’apothéose The year of Charpentier’s birth was long de Corelli ; Apothéose de Lully ), a considerable uncertain, with conjectures ranging from amount of Latin sacred vocal music, and a few 1634 to 1650, but the latest research indicates vernacular songs. Much of his music was ap - that he was born in Paris in 1643 . His father, parently lost in the years after his death through Louis, was a “copyist,” a transcriber and a de - family neglect, however, and not a single man - tector of forgeries, for the powerful Guise fam - uscript of his is known to exist. According ily, who later became generous patrons of to the late-19th-century Italian critic and Marc-Antoine. The young musician studied in

PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

Rome for several years during the 1660s with other religious pieces.) In 1687, Lully’s death Giacomo Carissimi, famed composer of the or - finally opened the doors of the Royal Opéra to atorio Jephte , from whom he absorbed the most other composers, and six years later popular mid-17th-century Italian styles and Charpentier’s Médée was produced there. forms. Charpentier’s first position upon re - Though not a popular success when it was first turning to Paris in the mid-1670s was as com - heard, this splendid opera (with a libretto by poser and singer to the pi ous Marie de Thomas Corneille, talented younger brother of Lorraine, the Duchess of Guise, for whom he the more famous Pierre) has come to be re - wrote numerous religious works (including garded as one of supreme examples of French some for female voices spurred by the Duchess’s Baroque musical theater. Charpentier’s last ap - interest in various convents) and secular dra - pointment was as maître de musique of the matic pieces. In 1672, Charpentier embarked Sainte-Chapelle, a position second in prestige upon a long association with the famed play - only to that of the royal chapel at Versailles. wright Jean Baptiste Molière and his Comédie- Reflecting the musical posts he occupied Française when Lully, Molière’s previous and the nature of his career, most of collaborator, was given monopolistic privileges Charpentier’s music consists of vocal and in - for opera production in Paris and began his ca - strumental sacred works written for churches, reer as an opera composer. Charpentier com - private chapels, and convents. In addition, he posed overtures, entr’actes , and dances for the produced much incidental music for plays, Comédie-Française until 1686 . several pastorales and chamber operas, two In the early 1680s, Charpentier was em - full-scale tragédies lyriques , and a small num - ployed as composer and director of music by ber of secular vocal and instrumental ensem - the Grand Dauphin, eldest son of the King, for ble compositions. Charpentier’s sacred music, whom he wrote religious pieces and dramatic as befit his training with Carissimi, reflects works on courtly subjects. Reports indicate Italian styles, especially in its harmonic au - that King Louis favored Charpentier’s sacred dacities and its interest in coloristic contrasts. works, and the composer applied for a posi - Though his theater pieces—with their French tion at the royal chapel in 1683, but he was un - overtures, carefully declaimed text and many able to appear at the general examinations orchestral ballet numbers—are less Italian in because of illness. The pension that he was character and more indebted to the model of granted two months later by Louis, officially Lully than his sacred music, they still exhibit in recognition of his service to the Dauphin, Charpentier’s distinctive musical personality. was as close as Charpentier ever came to royal patronage, though he was for a time the com - Honoré D’Ambruys (fl. ca. 1650–1702) left few position teacher of Philippe, Duke of Chartres, traces upon the historical record other than later Duke of Orléans and Regent of France. that he was active as a composer and singing Also in the 1680s, Charpentier became at - teacher in the last half of the 17th century and tached as composer to St. Louis, the principal that he was a student of Michel Lambert, to Jesuit church in Paris, a post called by one con - whom he dedicated his Livre d’Airs avec les temporary chronicler “among the most bril - Seconds Couplets en Diminution Mesurez sur la liant in French musical life.” Charpentier wrote Basse Continue upon its publication in Paris in an immense number of sacred works for St. 1685 , a volume with insights into that era’s Louis, including his well-known Messe de French practice of melodic embellishment. Minuit (“Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve”) Some two dozen additional airs de cour by and several sacred musical dramas for the D’Ambruys were published in various journals local Jesuit colleges. (During his life he com - and collections betwe en 1682 and 1702. posed well over 400 separate Masses, motets, Magnificats, Lessons, Te Deums, Psalms, and © 2015 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

CAL PERFORMANCES TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Airs Sérieux Et À Boire

Michel Lambert D’un feu secret je me sens consumer By a secret flame I feel myself consumed Text by Charles Bouchardeau ( 1660 )

D’un feu seret je me sens consumer By a secret flame I feel myself consumed, Sans pouvoir soulager le mal qui me possède: powerless to ease the pain that possesses me: Je pourrais bien guérir si je cessais d’aimer; I might well be cured were I to cease loving; Mais j’aime mieux le mal que le remède. yet I love my ailment more than its remedy.

Lambert Le repos, l’ombre, le silence Stillness, gloom and silence

Le repos, l’ombre, le silence, Stillness, gloom and silence: Tout m’oblige en ces lieux à faire confidence everything here compels me to divulge De mes ennuis les plus secrets; my innermost troubles; Je me sens soulagé d’y conter mon martyre, relating my suffering brings me solace, Je ne le dis qu’à des forêts; though I speak only to the forests; Mais enfin, c’est toujours le dire. at least, however, my woes are told.

Si l’on veut parler sans rien taire If you would speak, leaving nothing unsaid, On est en liberté dans ce lieu solitaire. you are free to do so in this secluded place. On ne craint point les indiscrets: You need have no fear at all of listening ears: Je me sens soulagé d’y conter mon martyre, relating my suffering brings me solace, Je ne le dis qu’à des forêts; though I speak only to the forests; Mais, enfin, c’est toujours le dire. at least, however, my woes are told.

Lambert Ah, qui voudra désormais s’engager Ah, who now will ever wish to pledge his love?

Ah! qui voudra désormais s’engager ? Ah! who now will ever wish to pledge his love? Iris m’avait promis une ardeur éternelle, Iris had promised me undying passion, Et toutefois Iris aime un autre Berger. and yet another shepherd is now Iris’ love. Ah! qui voudra désormais s’engager ? Ah! who now will ever wish to pledge his love? Hélas! puisque son cœur est devenu léger Alas! Since her heart has grown fickle Après mille serments d’être toujours fidèle, despite her thousand oaths of eternal fidelity, Je ne vois rien qui ne puisse changer. naught can I see that is not susceptible to change.

Lambert Il faut mourir plutôt que de changer ’Tis better to die than e’er to change

Il faut mourir plutôt que de changer, ’Tis better to die than e’er to change, Jamais un cœur ne doit se dégager, a heart must never seek to free itself Quand un autre est fidèle à son amour extrême: when another is faithful to its truest love: Mais lors qu’il a souffert ce que l’on peut souffrir, but when it has borne all that one can bear, Et que l’objet qu’il aime and the object of its affections Augmente sa douleur au lieu de la guérir, increases its suffering instead of curing it, Il faut changer plutôt que de mourir. ’tis better to change than to die.

Il faut changer plutôt que de mourir, ’Tis better to change than to die Quand la beauté qui nous peut secourir when the beauty who might rescue us Est toujours insensible à notre amour extrême: remains insensible to our truest love: Mais il ne faut pas être inconstant ni léger but we must not be inconstant or flighty

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Et quand l’objet qu’on aime and when the object of our affections Partage notre mal et le veut soulager, shares our pain and wishes to ease it, Il faut mourir plutôt que de changer. ’tis better to die than e’er to change.

François Couperin Épitaphe d ’un paresseux Epitaph of a lazy man Text by Jean de La Fontaine ( 1671 )

Jean s’en alla, comme il était venu; Jean left this life as he came into it; Mangea le fond avec le revenu, not a single penny to show for it, Tint les trésors, chose peu nécessaire: since wealth, for him, was never worth a thought: Quant à son temps, bien le sut dispenser, to his time, however, he did carefully attend, Deux parts en fit, dont il soulait passer, he split it into two halves, and wisely chose to spend L’une à dormir, et l’autre à ne rien faire. one fast asleep, the other doing naught.

Couperin Les Pellerines The Pilgrim Maids

I. La Marche I. Procession Au Temple de l’Amour, To the Temple of Love, Pellerines de Cythère, pilgrim maids of Cythera, Nous allons, d’un cœur sincère, do we go, sincere of heart, Nous offrir à notre tour: to offer ourselves in our turn: Les Ris, les Jeux, les Amours sont du voyage, Laughter, Games, and Love along the way, Les doux soupirs, les tendres désirs sweet sighs and tender desires Sont le but de ce pèlerinage, are the aim of this pilgrimage, Le prix en est les plaisirs. and its reward is pleasure.

II. La Caristade II. Alms Au nom charmant de ces vives flammes In the charming name of these lively flames Qui causent aux âmes which bring men’s souls Tant de douceurs: such sweet delights: Soyez touché de nos langueurs, be touched by our languor, On lit dans nos yeux les besoins de nos cœurs. the needs of our hearts can be read in our eyes.

III. Le Remerciement III. Thanks Que désormais, des biens durables Henceforth, may your wishes À jamais comblent vos souhaits: be fulfilled with everlasting good: Vos tendres soins, vos dons secourables your tender care, your helpful gifts Nous soulagent dans ce jour; bring us ease this day; Puisse l’Amour vous rendre au retour in return, may Love make you Encore plus charitables. even more charitable.

Lambert Iris n’est plus, mon Iris m’est ravie Iris is gone, my Iris has been taken from me

Iris n’est plus, mon Iris m’est ravie, Iris is gone, my Iris has been taken from me, Iris n’est plus le puis-je prononcer, Iris is gone, if I can even say the words, Sans mourir le puis-je penser; if, without dying, I can think such a thing; Iris n’est plus mon Iris m’est ravie. Iris is gone, my Iris has been taken from me. Quoi donc ce qui faisait mes plus tendres amours, So the object of my most tender love, Ce que je voyais tous les jours, she whom I saw every day, Je ne le verrai de ma vie, I shall never see again in my life, Iris n’est plus mon Iris m’est ravie. Iris is gone, my Iris has been taken from me.

CAL PERFORMANCES TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Lambert Bien que l’amour fasse toute ma peine Though Love is the cause of all my sorrow

Bien que l’Amour fasse toute ma peine, Though Love is the cause of all my sorrow, Je veux aimer et mourir en aimant: I would loving live and die: Mais cependant trop aimable Climène, and yet, my beloved Clymene, Si vous vouliez soulager mon tourment, should you wish to ease my torment, Je mourrais plus content. I should die a happier man.

Joseph Chabanceau de la Barre Quand une âme est bien atteinte Once a soul is captivated

Quand une âme est bien atteinte, Once a soul is captivated, Elle n’est jamais sans crainte, it is never free from fear, Sans douleur, et sans désirs; free from pain, or from desire; Les soupçons, ou la contrainte suspicions and compulsions Troublent ses plus doux plaisirs; disturb its sweetest pleasures; Tout gémit, et tout soupire, in the empire of love, Dans l’empire des amours, sighs and groans fill the air, Et cependant cet empire, and yet that empire S’accroît tous les jours. grows larger every day.

Rien n’est si rare en tendresse, The rarest delight Qu’une sincère Maîtresse, is a truthful Mistress Dont le cœur répond aux yeux; whose heart and eyes speak as one; Tour à tour chacun s’empresse by turns do we hasten À qui trompera le mieux; to one who will best deceive; C’est là le commun langage, such is the common language De ceux qui craignent d’aimer, of those who are afraid to love Et cependant le plus sage and yet the wisest of men Se laisse enflammer. allows himself to be inflamed.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier Intermèdes nouveaux du Mariage forcé New interludes for Le Mariage forcé

La, la, la, bonjour pour trente mille années. La, la, la, good day for thirty thousand years. Chers compagnons, puisqu’ici nous voilà Dear companions, since we are gathered here, Trois favoris d’ut ré mi fa sol la, three masters of do re me fa sol la, Qu’ici nos voix sont dégainées, and our voices are unsheathed, Chantons, mais que dirons-nous? let’s sing, but what shall we say? Je m’en rapporte à vous, I defer to you, Que vous en semble? what do you think? Je n’en sais rien. No idea at all. Qu’importe, chantons tous ensemble mal ou bien. No matter, let’s all sing together, well or ill. Fagotons à tort et à travers de méchants vers, Let’s rattle off some poor, haphazard lines, Les uns longs comme vers d’élégie some of them long, in elegiac strain, Les autres à jambe raccourcie the others short of a syllable or two, Point de rime et point de raison all without rhyme or reason. Tout est bon quoi qu’on die It’s all good, whatever they say, Tout bruit forme mélodie: any noise creates a melody: Tic toc chic choc nic noc fric froc Tic toc chic choc nic noc fric froc Pinte verre coupe broc Pint pot, wine glass, punch bowl, jug, Ab hoc et ab hac et ab hoc Ab hoc et ab hac et ab hoc Fran, fran, fran pour le seigneur Gratian Fran, fran, fran for Master Gratian

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Frin, frin, frin pour le seigneur Arlequin Frin, frin, frin for Master Arlequin Fron, fron, fron pour le seigneur Pantalon. Fron, fron, fron for Master Pantalon. Oh! Le joli concert et la belle harmonie! Oh! What fine voices and sweet harmony!

Oh, la belle symphonie! Oh, the lovely symphony! Qu’elle est douce, qu’elle a d’appâts. How sweet it sounds, what charms it has. Mêlons y la mélodie des chiens, des chats Let’s mix in the melody of dogs and cats Et des rossignols d’Arcadie. and the nightingales of Arcadia. Oaou, houpf, miaou, hin han Bow wow, woof, miaow, hee haw. Oh! Le joli concert et la belle harmonie! Oh! What fine voices and sweet harmony!

Lambert Chantez petits oiseaux dans la saison nouvelle Sing out, little birds, as the new season dawns Text by (after 1670 )

Chantez petits oiseaux dans la saison nouvelle, Sing out, little birds, as the new season dawns, Chantez, vous êtes tous contents, sing out, for you are all merry, C’est pour vous qu’est fait le Printemps: ’tis for you that springtime is made: Mais pour moi ma peine est cruelle, my lot, however, is one of cruel sorrow, Je languis et souffre toujours I languish in unceasing torment Pour une Bergère infidèle, for the sake of a false shepherdess. Ah! ce n’est pas pour moi que sont faits les beaux jours. Ah! ’tis not for me that these fine days were made.

Lambert Pour vos beaux yeux, Iris mon amour est extrême For your fair eyes, Iris, I have the utmost love

Pour vos beaux yeux Iris, mon amour est extrême; For your fair eyes, Iris, I have the utmost love; Jamais on aima tant Iris que je vous aime; never did any man love, Iris, so much as I love you; Je souffre, je languis, sans espoir de guérir; I suffer, I languish, with no hope of a cure; Je pleure, je soupire et je m’en vais mourir; I weep and I lament and feel I shall die; Bergers conservez bien cette flamme si belle, Shepherds, guard closely this fairest of flames, Et croyez que le plus fidèle and know well that the most faithful Est celui qui me peut charmer; is the one who can beguile me; C’est donc moi, belle Iris, que vous devez aimer; ’tis I, then, fair Iris, that you ought to love; Le temps me l’apprendra, vivez, vivez en espérance, with time shall I learn to live, to live in hope L’on juge de l’amour par la persévérance. for love is judged by our perseverance.

Lambert Que d’Amants séparés languissent nuit et jour How lovers divided do languish night and day Text by Mme de Lauvergne ( 1679 )

Que d’Amants séparés languissent nuit et jour, How lovers divided do languish night and day, Qu’on entend de soupirs, qu’on voit couler de larmes: what sighs are heard, what tears seen to be shed: Hélas! hélas! si la gloire a des charmes, alas! alas! though glory has its charms, Valent-ils tous les maux qu’il en coûte à l’Amour. are they worth the harm done to Love in its pursuit?

Trop heureux les absents assurés du retour, Too happy the absent lovers sure of returning, Et qui sont à couvert de la fureur des armes. those who are sheltered from the fury of battle. Hélas! hélas! si la gloire a des charmes, Alas! alas! though glory has its charms, Valent-ils tous les maux qu’il en coûte à l’Amour. are they worth the harm done to Love in its pursuit?

CAL PERFORMANCES TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Honoré d’Ambruys Le doux silence de nos bois The soft silence of our woods

Le doux silence de nos bois The soft silence of our woods N’est plus troublé que de la voix is now broken only by the songs Des oiseaux que l’amour assemble. of the birds that Love gathers here. Bergère qui fais mes désirs Shepherdess, my heart’s desire, Voici le mois charmant des fleurs et des zéphyrs behold the fair month of flowers and zephyrs, Et la saison qui te ressemble and the season that resembles you. Ne perdons pas un moment des beaux jours Let’s lose not a moment of these fine days, C’est le temps des plaisirs et des tendres amours; ’tis the time for tender loves and pleasures;

Songeons en voyant le printemps Let’s dream as we watch the spring Qu’il en est un dans nos beaux ans that there is one such season in our youth, Qu’on n’a qu’une fois en sa vie that we have but one such time in our lives. Mais c’est peu que d’y songer But dreaming of this is not enough, Il faut belle Philis le ménager. we must, fair Phyllis, make it so. Cette saison nous y convie The season does thus invite us. Ne perdons pas un moment des beaux jours Let’s lose not a moment of these fine days, C’est le temps des plaisirs et des tendres amours. ’tis the time for tender loves and pleasures.

Charpentier Ayant bu du vin clairet Having drunk some claret wine

Ayant bu du vin clairet, Having drunk some claret wine, Colin trouva sa Bergère Colin found his shepherdess, Qui dormait sur la fougère, asleep on a ferny bank, Et par un zèle indiscret, and seized with an impetuous urge, Lui leva son bavolet. stole away her bonnet. Connaissant l’humeur cruelle, Knowing the cruel temper De la farouche Catin, of his fiery Catin, Il dit, Pardonnez la Belle, he said, “Forgive me, my Beauty, Si j’ai trop fait le badin; if my teasing went too far”; Mon cher Colin, lui dit-elle, “My dear Colin,” said she to him, Il faut excuser le vin. “Wine has to be forgiven.”

Charpentier Auprès du feu By the fire

Auprès du feu l’on fait l’amour, We can make love by the fire Aussi bien que sur la fougère; as well as we can amid the ferns; N’attendez pas belle Bergère fair Shepherdess, do not wait Que le printemps soit de retour, for springtime to return Pour choisir un Berger sincère: before you choose a loyal Shepherd: Auprès du feu l’on fait l’amour, We can make love by the fire Aussi bien que sur la fougère. as well as we can amid the ferns.

PLAYBILL TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Charpentier Beaux petits yeux d’écarlate Pretty little scarlet eyes

Beaux petits yeux d’écarlate, Pretty little scarlet eyes, Belle bouche grande et plate, big, flat lips so fine, Joli nez retroussé, sweet little turned-up nose, Beau menton rebroussé, handsome receding chin, Chevelure de filasse, ill-kempt tow-coloured hair, Bras maigrelet et molasse, weak and skinny arms, Main plus sèche que brésil, hands dryer than Brazil-wood. Las! je tombe dans la tombe, Alas! I’ll tumble into my tomb Si mon cœur qui prend feu comme mèche à fusil if my heart which takes light like a fuse N’est secouru dans le péril. isn’t plucked from this danger.

Sauvons-nous mes amis si nous savons nager, We must save ourselves, my friends, if we can swim, La vieille Proserpine for old Proserpina Pour nous submerger has deluged us in urine A fait tomber sur nous un déluge d’urine. to try and drown us. Que le flux de sang, May a bleeding cut, L’asthme, la migraine, asthma, migraine, La fièvre quartaine quartan fever, Le trousse-galant or cholera La serre, l’entraîne, seize her, drag her down, L’étrangle à l’instant, choke her on the spot, La teigne, la rogne, May ringworm, anger, La happe, l’empogne or greed take her, La peste, la rogue may plague infect her, La crève, la cogne kill her dead and kick her Dans le monument. into her very own grave.

Lambert Jugez de ma douleur en ces tristes adieux Ascertain my sorrow in these sad farewells

Jugez de ma douleur en ces tristes adieux, Ascertain my sorrow in these sad farewells; Vous allez pour jamais abandonner ces lieux, you are going to forsake this place for evermore Et vous me défendez, cruelle, de vous suivre: and you forbid me, cruel girl, to follow you: Rien ne peut-il vous arrêter? can nothing stop your going? Hélas! comment pourrais-je vivre? Alas! how can I go on living? Puisqu’il faut enfin vous quitter. For at last I must leave you.

Si les maux que vos yeux m’ont fait longtemps souffrir If the ills your gaze has made me long endure Sont des maux si cruels qu’il en faille mourir, are so cruel that of them must I die, Au moins charmante Iris qu’auprès de vous j’expire, at least, beguiling Iris, when I die at your feet, Quand vous verrez mon triste sort, when you see my sad fate, Peut-être, hélas! Pourrez-vous dire, perhaps, alas, you will say, C’est moi qui te donne la mort. “’Tis I who caused your death.”

PLAYBILL CAL PERFORMANCES TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS

Lambert Il est vrai, l’amour est charmant ’Tis true, love has its charms

Il est vrai, l’amour est charmant; ’Tis true, love has its charms; Mais il n’est point aussi de plus cruel tourment, yet there is also no crueller torment; Il plaît, mais il rend misérable, it pleases, yet brings misery, Belle Inhumaine en doutez-vous? Pitiless Beauty, can you deny it? Comme il est dans mon cœur c’est un mal redoutable, inside my heart, ’tis a formidable evil, Comme il est dans vos yeux il n’est rien de si doux. inside your eyes, ’tis sweeter than aught in the world.

Lambert Tout l’Univers obéit à l’Amour The Universe entire does Love obey Text by Jean de La Fontaine ( 1666 )

Tout l’Univers obéit à l’Amour. The Universe entire does Love obey. Belle Philis soumettez-lui votre âme, Fair Phyllis, surrender to him your soul; Les autres Dieux à ce Dieu font la cour, the other gods pay court to this god, Et leur pouvoir est moindre que sa flamme: and their power is weaker than his flame: Des jeunes cœurs c’est le suprême bien, this is the greatest glory of youthful hearts, Aimez, aimez tout le reste n’est rien. love, love, for all the rest means naught.

Sans cet Amour tant d’objets ravissants, Without this Love, so many delightful things, Ces Prés fleuris, Bois, Jardins et Fontaines, these flowery fields, woods, gardens and springs, N’ont point d’appas qui ne soient languissants, have no charms at all that languish not, Et leur plaisir est moins doux que ces peines: and their pleasure is less sweet than their pain: Des jeunes cœurs c’est le suprême bien, this is the greatest glory of youthful hearts, Aimez, aimez le reste n’est rien. love, love, for all the rest means naught.

Published by Éditions des Abbesses in the Les Arts Florissants collec - Translations © 2013 Susannah Howe tion (Catherine Massip and Fannie Vernaz): Michel Lambert, Airs et Récits à quatre ou cinq voix for : “D’un feu secret je me sens consu - mer,” “Il faut mourir plutôt que de changer,” “Chantez petits oiseaux dans la saison nouvelle,” “Que d’Amants séparés languissent nuit et jour,” “ Tout l’Univers obéit à l’Amour.”

PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

1971. The turning point in his career came in 1979, when he founded Les Arts Florissants. As director of this ensemble, he brings new interpretations of largely neglected or forgot - ten repertoire to fruition. He is greatly in de - mand as a guest conductor at festivals including Glyndebourne and opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera in New York, d u a

i and has created a discography of over 100 l a r P

recordings. Wishing to further develop his p p i l

i work as a teacher, in 2002 he created Le Jardin h P des Voix, an Academy for young singers in The vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Caen. Since 2007, he has been artist in resi - Arts Florissants is one of the world’s most dence at the Juilliard School in New York, renowned and respected early music groups. where he gives master classes twice a year, ac - Dedicated to the performance of Baroque companied by the musicians of Les Arts music on original instruments, the ensemble Florissants. In 2008, Mr. Christie was elected was founded in 1979 by William Christie, and to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. takes its name from a short opera by Charpentier. Les Arts Florissants have been This season, the soprano Emmanuelle de largely responsible for the resurgence of in - Negri appears as Telaïre in Rameau’s Castor terest in France in 17th-century French reper - and Pollux under the baton of Emmanuelle toire, as well as in European music of the 17th Haïm in Dijon and Lille. She performs with and 18th centuries more generally. Since the Les Arts Florissants and William Christie in acclaimed production of Lully’s Atys in Paris Les Fêtes Vénitiennes by Campra, at Paris’s in 1987, it has been in the field of opera where Opéra-Comique and in Caen. She also sings Les Arts Florissants has found most success. in operatic concerts ( Platée in London, Orfeo The ensemble has an impressive discogra - with Accentus) and in concerts (Fauré’s phy of nearly 100 recordings. In 2012, and cantatas by Mendelssohn, and Mr. Christie and Les Arts Florissants created Les Quatres Saisons by Charpentier). She will the festival Dans les Jardins de William be on tour with Les Arts Florissants both in Christie , in partnership with the Conseil the United States and in France. On stage, she Général de la Vendée. An annual event, the has sung many roles from various repertoires, festival brings together artists from Les Arts including Papagena, Yniold ( Pelléas et Florissants, pupils from the Juilliard School, Mélisande ), Oberto (Handel’s Alcina ), Miles and laureates of Le Jardin des Voix for concerts (The Turn of the Screw ), Clorinda ( La and “musical promenades” in the gardens cre - Cenerentola ) and Despina ( Così fan tutte ). ated by Mr. Christie at Thiré, in the Vendée. Baroque repertoire is among her favorites. Her collaboration with Les Arts Florissants William Christie , harpsichordist, conductor, dates back to Le Jardin des Voix, and since musicologist, and teacher, is the inspiration then she has performed Sangaride in Atys , behind one of the most exciting musical ad - Belinda in Dido and Aeneas , and the Statue in ventures of the last 30 years, pioneering work Pygmalion in France and abroad. that has led to a renewed appreciation of 17th- and 18th-century French repertoire. In the 2014–2015 season, Anna Reinhold ap - Mr. Christie studied at Harvard and Yale pears in the roles of Menesteo and Pace in Universities and has lived in France since Elena at Angers-Nantes Opera and at Rennes

CAL PERFORMANCES ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Opera (production of Festival d’Aix-en- In the 2014–2015 season, French baritone Marc Provence under the direction of Leonardo Mauillon can be heard with Les Arts Florissants García Alarcón). She performs a program (Rameau’s Grands Motets and l’Art Français, un Labirinto d’amor in concert , recorded with Art in time) in Europe and South and North lutenist Tomas Dunford for the label Alpha, in America, and in Les Fêtes Vénitiennes by many venues and during the Festival Radio Campra in Caen and Paris, with the Talents France in Montpellier. Ms. Reinhold also gives Lyriques in Lully’s Armide at l’Opéra National concerts with Les Folies Françoises, La de Lorraine. He collaborates also with Jordi Simphonie du Marais, and Cappella Savall and gives many recitals. Two Eloquentia Mediterranea, and will take part in an recordings released in 2013 and starring American tour with Les Arts Florissants. After Mr. Mauillon clearly show the extent of his graduating from CNSMP, she participated in repertoire, containing early and contemporary Le Jardin des Voix, the vocal Academy of Les music: a new recital dedicated to Machaut, Mon Arts Florissants. Mr. Christie has given her the Chant vous Envoy ; and Miroirs Brûlants , on role of Cybèle in Atys by Lully. She has been which he sings, accompanied by the pianist invited to perform in many operas of the Guillaume Coppolla, the complete melodies Baroque repertoire but is nevertheless fond of composed by Poulenc on texts by Éluard. In contemporary music as well. Her latest record - concert, he performs this repertoire at Besançon ings contain a program of arias for five singers and Condette in 2015. A CD dedicated to the with Les Arts Florissants and one recording melodies of the First World War with Anne le dedicated to Cavalli with Mariana Flores and Bozec has also been released this year. the Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea. In 2014–2015 , bass-baritone Lisandro Abadie Reinoud Van Mechelen was born in 1987 in sings in Handel’s Riccardo Primo , staged by Belgium and studied singing at the Benjamin Lazar at the International Handel Conservatoire Royal in Brussels. In 2007 he Festival in Karlsruhe. Later in the year he per - took part in the Académie Baroque forms Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Européenne in Ambronay and perfo rmed Concertgebouw Amsterdam as well as the there Plutus in Le Carnaval et la Folie by St. John Passion with the Liverpool Destouches under the baton of Hervé Niquet. Philharmonic Orchestra; he toured with Skip He subsequently started a collaboration with Sempé for Rameau’s Funeral Service as well as ensembles such as Il Gardellino, L’Arpeggiata, with Les Arts Florissants for Monteverdi’s Ausonia, the Poème Harmonique, Ludus Seventh Book of Madrigals ; and he performed Modalis, B’Rock, Ricercar Consort and the the role of Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo at the European Union Baroque Orchestra. From National Theatre in Prague. This season he 2011 through 2013 he was a member of Le tours again with Les Arts Florissants and re - Jardin des Voix of William Christie and Paul turns to the Karlsruhe and Göttingen Handel Agnew. With Le Jardin des Voix he took part in festivals. On stage, he has sung many roles numerous concerts and performed the role of from various repertoires, including Le Mage Zéphir in Lully’s Atys on concert tour with Les du Maghreb (Nino Rota’s Aladin et la lampe Arts Florissants. His collaboration with Les merveilleuse ), Handel’s Siroe and Giulio Arts Florissants has since developed and he has Cesare , and Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis . performed with them, among others, at the In 2010 , he created the title role of the opera Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, at the Edinburgh Cachafaz by Oscar Strasnoy, staged by Festival and at the Château de Versailles. Benjamin Lazar at the Opéra Comique.

PLAYBILL