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VOYAGES VOYAGES for whom imagination reigned as the queen of the faculties. 1 L’invitation au voyage Henri Duparc [4.06] The idea for this disc came about a couple of 2 Chant d’Automne, Op. 5 No. 1 Gabriel Fauré [4.32] years ago when Joseph Middleton contacted I’d had the opportunity to sing quite a bit of 3 Hymne, Op. 7 No. 2 Gabriel Fauré [2.02] me about a live recital for a BBC broadcast. He French song (and some of the Baudelaire 4 L’invitation au voyage Emmanuel Chabrier [6.08] had constructed a programme exploring the repertoire) before, but this was the first time I feat. Amy Harman bassoon genius of Baudelaire and Goethe and how felt we were able to tie this kind of programme 5 Romance de Mignon Henri Duparc [4.27] texts by them unlocked very specific musical together around a bigger story. Working with Vier Mignon Lieder Franz Schubert landscapes in settings by Debussy, Duparc, Joseph and Helen on the poems in depth 6 Nur wer die Sensucht, D. 877 No. 4 [3.06] Chausson, de Bréville, Séverac, Fauré and really opened up the music: scenes and images 7 Heiss mich nicht reden, D. 877 No. 2 [3.39] Schubert. After our first performance we both started to take shape in my mind. My own 8 So lasst mich scheinen, D. 877 No. 3 [3.09] felt unable to let go of the programme and imagination is something I have always relied 9 Kennst du das Land, D. 321 [4.15] began exploring the possibility of recording it. upon heavily in order to create different 0 Les hiboux Déodat de Séverac [3.13] As we began to put this plan into action we atmospheres and tell stories on the recital q Harmonie du soir Pierre de Bréville [4.24] got in touch with Helen Abbott, a professor platform. Recording the disc in a bitterly cold at the University of Birmingham and an expert but evocative church in North London seemed Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire Claude Debussy on Baudelaire. In discussions with her we somehow very fitting for the tales of beauty, w Le balcon [7.39] e Harmonie du soir [4.02] found a common link in these songs; the mystery, love, and extraordinary voyages that r Le jet d’eau [5.30] enigmatic waif Mignon who first appears in these songs recount. t Recueillement [4.23] Goethe’s work Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahrer y La mort des amants [3.18] (1795-6) and who subsequently proved to be © Mary Bevan, 2017 the inspiration for many artists and poets. u La vie antérieure Henri Duparc [4.16] She symbolizes humanity’s two natures - i Harmonie du soir Maurice Rollinat [1.48] earthly and spiritual, male and female - and o Le jet d’eau Maurice Rollinat [5.35] her life is governed by Sehnsucht, or ‘longing’, Total timings: [79.32] a form of Romantic desire that manifests itself as affliction. Her wish for a better life, MARY BEVAN SOPRANO one only possible in her imagination, finds JOSEPH MIDDLETON PIANO a common thread in the poetry of Baudelaire www.signumrecords.com - 3 - TRAVELS THROUGH (Autumn Song) and Hymne (Hymn). Duparc’s set by Duparc as Romance. Other Mignon BAUDELAIRE’S POETRY IN SONG response to Baudelaire’s call to travel is songs such as Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt quite different from Emmanuel Chabrier’s reinforce the idea of love tinged with loneliness What are we hearing when we listen to a (1841–1894) which also dates from 1870. and longing. Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) French song? Composers find and choose Chabrier had a different vision for the work, used the same Mignon figure in his 1838 texts in different ways. Sometimes there is using a wider soundscape which included an collection La Comédie de la mort (The something about a particular poet’s work obbligato bassoon alongside the piano and Comedy of Death) from which Hector Berlioz which captures their imagination. It makes a voice. That the same poem had captured the (1803–1869) drew his texts for Les Nuits composer need to set that poem to music. It imagination of two young composers shows d’été (Summer Nights). The Mignon myth is a may not be because the poem is particularly how Baudelaire was able to inspire them in highly evocative ideal of alluring women and ‘musical’. Instead, it is often something within different ways. exotic voyages to which poets and composers the language in the poem which means that cannot help but be repeatedly drawn. the poet’s words can unlock a composer’s voice. Baudelaire himself promoted the idea of using imagination creatively. He called the In Baudelaire’s world, it doesn’t matter which For Henri Duparc (1848–1933), the poet who imagination la Reine des facultés (the Queen woman you imagine going places with. A unlocked his own voice was Charles Baudelaire of the Faculties). Baudelaire conjured up number of women inspired his work – from the (1821–1867). Setting L’Invitation au voyage women in far-off lands, amazing sunsets, and (The Invitation to the Voyage) to music in enticing Wanderlust through his poetry. 1870 marked a pivotal moment not only in Encouraging your mind to wander off, to Duparc’s career as a composer, but in the travel somewhere (it doesn’t matter where) whole destiny of the French song repertoire meant that Baudelaire knew how to dream of Apollonie Sabatier known as mélodie. In summer 1870, France attaining perfection somewhere, somehow. In became embroiled in a war with Prussia, which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749–1832) Haitian-born actress Jeanne Duval (painted served in some way as a prompt to young world, this meant Mignon’s song Kennst du by Edouard Manet), to Apollonie Sabatier who generations of composers seeking creative das Land (famously set by Schubert) which hosted salons frequented by all the poets and ways to promote French music using recent invites the poet to imagine a perfect land – artists of the day (painted by Vincent Vidal), as French poetry. This was the same year that far off – where he can live out his days in well as his mother Caroline Dufaÿs with whom Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) set Baudelaire the company of his lover. Belgian poet Victor he enjoyed a fractious relationship after her poems with ‘musical’ titles, Chant d’automne Wilder (1835–1892) adapts Mignon’s song Jeanne Duval remarriage to Général Aupick. - 4 - - 5 - The different relationships Baudelaire enjoyed hard to perform because it has no obvious the poem, but it can be helpful to think of The most French famous composer on this with these women – who served variously as his characters in it. It requires singers to imagine it as perhaps evoking the famous Parisian album, Claude Debussy (1862–1918) merits muse – created different poetic worlds. From themselves in a place or space rather than church in which Baudelaire was baptised, special attention for his unusual interaction the sensual Le Jet d’eau (The Fountain) to playing the role of a person within it. The Delacroix painted some important frescoes, with Baudelaire. Published in an édition de the reverent Hymne (Hymn) and the nostalgic text turns in on itself, and repeats lines of and – in more recent times – Dan Brown set luxe in 1890, the Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire La Vie antérieure (A Past Life), we encounter text from one stanza to the next. We hear parts of the Da Vinci Code: Saint-Sulpice. In enjoyed an initial print run of only 150 copies. enticing imaginative settings. But there is melancholy waltzes, smell heavily perfumed listening to three very different responses The scores were sold at the exclusive Librairie perhaps none more enticing than the one flowers, and see glittering religious artefacts. to the same poem – by Pierre de Bréville, de l’Art Indépendant, based on the Rue de la which combines all of these sensual, reverent, Nostalgia predominates as the poet calls out Claude Debussy, and Maurice Rollinat – we Chaussée d’Antin in Paris. The first performance and nostalgic elements. Harmonie du soir in an attempt to reclaim now-faded glories. It hear soundscapes from the mundane to the was in private, at Ernest Chausson’s house, (Evening Harmony) brings everything together is a poem in which it is hard to locate yourself, ethereal, from the cabaret to the cathedral. attended by a small number of illustrious in a way which also interweaves music and and with which many singers struggle to The same 16-line poem has inspired composers artists of the day including composer Paul religion. It is an unusual text – one which is connect. There is no single way to interpret in extremely inventive ways. Vidal, author Catulle Mendès, and music critic Henri Gauthiers-Villars. Yet the first public If so many composers were setting Baudelaire performance was not until 1903 in Lyon, to music in the 1870s through to the early and it took a while for these songs to enter twentieth century, we might ask what connects the repertoire. Even today, these songs them besides the choice of poet. Some of remain ones which are not the most amenable the composers whose names are less well-known for singers, pianists, or audiences alike. If today trained under famous composers such Baudelaire’s poetry was able to unlock Duparc’s as César Franck or Vincent d’Indy, including voice as a composer, for Debussy, Baudelaire’s Pierre de Bréville (1861–1949) and Déodat texts marked a chapter in his musical career de Sévérac (1872–1921).