RTF Classical releases at November 2018 Andrew Matthews-Owen, Jonathan Dove (playing), Claire Booth, Susan Bickley Purcell Room 15 May 2018, photo © Sebastian Böttcher 2018
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INTRODUCTION by ANDREW MATTHEWS-OWEN NOTES ON THE PEFORMERS
This recording came about as a result of a coffee chat I had in 2017 with my long time Susan Bickley is one of the most accomplished mezzo-sopranos of her generation, with a duo partner Claire Booth. We talked about the forthcoming Debussy centenary, our wide repertory encompassing the Baroque, the great 19th and 20th century dramatic roles, enormous admiration for the composer, and how his five settings of Charles Baudelaire’s as well as contemporary repertoire. In May 2011 she received the prestigious Singer Award poems are among the most complex scores we had both explored. Claire and I decided at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the highest recognition for live classical music in it would be a timely opportunity to revisit these songs again, so I embarked on the UK. She has performed widely in opera, concert and recital roles, and recorded programming a concert which would bring together some of the important musical and extensively. personal strands which ran through Debussy’s life. Claire Booth, soprano, a leading light of the contemporary classical music scene, is Claude Debussy’s own story is one which a mere sleeve note cannot begin to touch upon. internationally renowned both for her commitment to an extraordinary breadth of His life was governed by one rule, illustrated perfectly in an encounter with one of his repertoire, and for the vitality and musicianship that she brings to the operatic stage and tutors, Ernest Guiraud, who remarked that Debussy’s harmonic navigation in one concert platform. exercise defied the laws of music: “There is no theory, you merely have to listen. Pleasure is the law.” responded the student. Andrew Matthews-Owen is among the most sought-after collaborative pianists of his generation, with a passionate commitment to contemporary music, regularly appearing in As I started researching Debussy’s life, exploring his songs, and reading recollections of concert, and on commercial recordings with some of the finest classical artists of our time. his friends and detractors, particularly the words he wrote to his wife and mistress, an image emerges, almost in technicolour, of a man who blazed through a life which was often brilliant and occasionally devastating.
As we remember this composer, one hundred years after his death, it seems apt to begin with an Élégie by Erik Satie, with whom Debussy enjoyed a warm friendship. One of the first written accounts of their friendship in fact is a dedication to Satie on copy No.45 of the Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: ‘Erik Satie, gentle mediaeval musician, who has strayed into this century for the joy of his good friend Claude A. Debussy’ (27 October 1892).
Satie’s Trois Mélodies of 1916 provide swift contrast to the meditative elegy they follow, www.jonathandove.com and the tumultuous settings of Baudelaire which they precede. For these songs, the www.intermusica.co.uk/artist/susan-bickley listener is best served by reading the texts, which our producer declared to be “bonkers www.claire-booth.com and wonderful”, to which we agreed! www.andrewmatthews-owen.com
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NOTES ON THE COMPOSERS
Jonathan Dove (1959- ) is an acclaimed and prolific composer. Few composers working Short in duration, each song packs considerable impact and has an irresistible today have embraced the modern opera house as consistently and successfully. His charm. From the opening cakewalk-like introduction of La Statue de Bronze, the incomparable catalogue of more than twenty diverse operatic works is indicative of a piano hopping around to help illustrate the frustration of a heavy statue longing to practical and lively theatrical mind, steeped in operatic experience. In all his music, Dove be a real frog, blowing bubbles in a pond, to the the ironic dignity of Daphénéo, has a strong desire to communicate, to entertain, and to provoke transformative where we overhear a daydream about trees between two faux-mythical characters experiences. His musical language is at once immediately appreciated by listeners new Daphénéo and Chrysaline. The set is rounded off with Le Chapelier (“fairly brisk, in to the concert hall and has provided performers, audiences and directors with rich the manner of Gounod”) which could be the ramblings of the Mad Hatter himself. possibilities for interpretation; several of his major operatic works have been performed in multiple productions all over the world, and his list of commissioners includes some of Composed between 1887 and 1889, Debussy’s Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire the world's greatest musicians. He is one of the only living composers able to write hurl us into the sensual worlds of Baudelaire’s words and Richard Wagner’s successful comic opera, to sustain a company through 150 performances of a single harmonies. When I first started exploring them as a student, these songs were unlike opera, or to captivate a million viewers with a single performance. any Debussy I had previously played. I remember going to the library at the Royal Academy of Music to research whether or not these songs had originally been written Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) although married, was “extremely attractive to for voice and orchestra, so similar to oft uncomfortable operatic score reductions women…..and noted for his conquests”, including Emma Bardac. A refined and were they under my fingers. I could not understand why these notes were so difficult sensitive composer, his works were noted for their harmonic and melodic innovation. to get into the muscle memory; their movement somehow heavier than the Debussy I had discovered in Ariettes oubilées or Chansons de Bilitis, the harmonies more Claude Debussy (1862-1918) had a turbulent private life, as is perhaps evident from the densely packed and the perfume around the them an intoxicating Oud, rather than letters Jonathan has chosen to set to music. His innovative compositions must have been the subtle scents I had associated with this composer. surprising and shocking when first heard. He was a close friend of Erik Satie. Baudelaire wrote that “music often pulls me like a tide” and Debussy’s approach in Erik Satie (1866-1925) was an eccentric and colourful figure in the world of early 20th setting Le Balcon responds in kind, capturing the impetuous tone of the writing, as century Parisian avant-garde. An original and experimental composer; a talented writer; rich harmonies roll by in broad gestures, with unexpected, fleeting undercurrents, a member of the communist party; a mystic who invented his own religion, and a heavy often not with the voice, rather a backdrop to the singer’s own navigation. The song drinker; in addition to his friendship with Debussy he formed a close friendship with Jean is at once epic yet personal, and dedicated to the poet’s mistress Jeanne Duval. Cocteau and was involved with the Dada movement. A few distinguished pianist friends and colleagues share my view that this song is almost too much for what the human voice and keyboard can capture. As an interpreter, few songs have made this pianist feel both navigator and voyeur as blatantly as Le Balcon. The words are impulsive, and the music swirling around them dense with a harmonic potential that is suitably fruitless to attempt to predict.
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This song, indeed all five songs, dare the singer and pianist to think broadly and Je te veux (1903) I Want You orchestrally. The colours they evoke are of deep jewels, as if looking at an isolated fragment of a Titian painting. Everything is passionate and deeply serious. There can be J'ai compris ta détresse, I’ve understood your distress, nothing half-hearted in our efforts to explore these songs. Poet and composer dare us to Cher amoureux, my dear lover, get in between the dots, over bar lines, and, as Baudelaire himself once reacted to Et je cède à tes voeux: and yield to your desires: Wagner’s music, to revel in “a veritable arabesque of sounds sketched out by passion”. Fais de moi ta maîtresse. Make me your mistress. Loin de nous la sagesse, Let us abandon reason, I would like to add that this is not an essay or analysis of the songs we are presenting. Space Plus de détresse, no more sadness, limitations with the sleeve ensures that priority is given to the texts, rather than artist biographies J'aspire à l'instant précieux I long for the precious moment or this pianist’s musings, and rightly so. The composers started with the texts, and so should Où nous serons heureux: when we’ll be happy: we. I hope this short note will serve to give the listener an insight into why we programmed this Je te veux. I want you. recital, how it came about and simply the love we have for the words and music themselves.
Nearly all songs I have performed or recorded have been inspired by love, loss, or both, Je n'ai pas de regrets, I have no regrets, Et je n'ai qu'une envie: and I have but one wish: and few composers’ songs have the autobiographical honesty as those of Claude Debussy. Mary Garden (Mélisande in the original 1902 production of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Près de toi, là, tout près, close, very close by you, Vivre toute ma vie. to live my whole life long. Mélisande) noted: “I honestly don’t know if Debussy ever loved anybody really. He loved Que mon coeur soit le tien Let my heart be yours his music - and perhaps himself.” This changed with the birth of his beloved daughter Et ta lèvre la mienne, and your lips mine, Emma-Claude (“Chou Chou”) in 1905, but his own love life is tumultuous to say the least. Que ton corps soit le mien, let your body be mine, This fascinated me. We feel we know so much about this man through his music, at least Et que toute ma chair soit tienne. and all my flesh yours. we think we do, but through his own correspondence a much clearer picture emerges, which makes for very interesting reading. Oui, je vois dans tes yeux Yes, I see in your eyes La divine promesse, the divine promise, Shortly after attending an enlightening recital of words and music by Debussy, I was Que ton coeur amoureux that your loving heart intrigued by the composer’s ability to shock and amuse. His letters and postcards display Vient chercher ma caresse. is searching out my caress. a lovable rogue whose company was exciting, unpredictable and rarely dull. Of a society Enlacés pour toujours, Entwined forever, lady who insisted on singing his songs he wrote that “she sings like a locomotive in Brûlés des mêmes flammes, consumed by the same desire, distress, but her buttered scones are marvellous”. On a trip to Budapest, Debussy Dans des rêves d'amours, in dreams of love remarked that “the Hungarians are all liars, but charming, and I brought back some Nous échangerons nos deux âmes. we’ll share our two souls. wonderful chocolates!”. This irreverent humour, coupled with his musical gifts, made him irresistible to many women, something the composer did little to discourage. Henry Pacory (1873-?) English translation © Richard Thomas
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Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Air du poète Air du poète Jonathan Dove and I discussed this at length when exploring potential texts for the cycle I commissioned him to write. We eventually settled on the idea of setting to music a Au pays de Papouasie On the shores of Papoetan Bayee selection of letters written by Debussy to his first wife Rosalie Texier (“Lilly”) and second J'ai caressé la Pouasie... I stroked the skin of Poetrayee. wife Emma Bardac, who was the mother of his cherished only child. La grâce que je vous souhaite For you I wish the blest condition C'est de n'être pas Papouète. of not being Papoetician. Jonathan Dove writes:
Debussy was an astonishingly prolific letter-writer, and he had a way with words. His first letter to Rosalie Texier (“Lilly”) is dated 21 April 1899. Lilly was a friend of Gabrielle Vexations Dupont, with whom Debussy was living in a not entirely exclusive relationship, and for a while Debussy carried on with both women. Lilly accepted his offer of marriage after he a half sheet of notation, with threatened suicide, and they were married in October 1899. instructions that the motif be repeated eight hundred and forty times. Despite his growing success, Debussy continued to give private piano lessons. A young pupil, Raoul Bardac, introduced Debussy to his mother, Emma. She had been a lover of Gabriel Fauré, and was the dedicatee of La Bonne Chanson. In June 1904 Debussy wrote his first letters to her, alongside equally affectionate letters to his wife. But then in August he wrote a letter to Lilly which ended their relationship. Lilly attempted suicide, which created a scandal! Debussy’s later letters to Lilly in March 1905 are cold, even hostile. Three years later, he married Emma.
The texts for “Letters from Claude” are from sixteen of Debussy’s letters - some are complete letters, some only fragments. I imagine that, perhaps after Debussy’s death, Lilly and Emma just happen to be re-reading some of his letters in their different homes at the same moment. Their memories are, of course, full of his music, and so the piano accompaniments are each prompted by a chord or phrase from piano pieces Debussy wrote around this time - Suite Bergamasque (1890-1905) and Estampes (1903) - along with the earlier Danse (1890).
“Letters from Claude” is dedicated to Jeremy Sams, who kindly lent me an enormous volume of Debussy’s letters, and translated these songs for this programme.
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With their shared love for Emma Bardac, it seems only right that we include some songs L'oiseau, sur le duvet humide et sur la mousse, The bird, in its nest of moist feathers or moss, by Gabriel Fauré, a composer whose music plays beautifully with illusion and reality, like Ne chante plus parmi la rose et l'oranger; sings no more among the roses and orange-trees; L'eau vive des jardins n'a plus de chanson the springs in the gardens have lost their soft song; the ever-changing refractions of light on water, which inspired so much in his douce, and dawn no longer gilds the pure and weightless compositions. These melodies also allow us respite from the hedonism of Baudelaire and L'aube ne dore plus le ciel pur et léger. sky. the intensity of Debussy’s letters. Oh! que ton jeune amour, ce papillon léger, Oh, if only your youthful love, that light butterfly, There is no programmatic reasoning behind our selection, other than they are beautiful Revienne vers mon coeur d'une aile prompte would return to my heart on swift and gentle melodies, which we have had in our musical lives for some time, and revelled in the et douce. wings, opportunity of including here. Et qu'il parfume encor de l'oranger, and perfume once more the orange blossom Les roses d'Ispahan dans leur gaîne de mousse. and the roses of Isfahan in their sheath of moss.
Much like the themes encountered in this recital, Fauré’s chosen texts evoke messages of Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894) love in its myriad of moods and perceptions. In Clair de lune, as we encountered in Le Balcon, singer and pianist take different paths, dare I say mirroring Fauré’s own unhappy marriage, concluding with the excitement of pursuit being marred by the inescapable Nocturne (1886) Nocturne finality of parting. Fauré’s rolling setting of Au bord de l’eau bears witness to the inevitable The night, above the great mystery, passing of time, as currents of water drift by, whilst in Après un rêve the lover, in romantic La nuit, sur le grand mystère, Entr'ouvre ses écrins bleus: half opens its blue jewel caskets: flight, stirs from a dream, and on waking wishes to return to the magical falsehood of Autant de fleurs sur la terre, As many flowers on earth his “mysterious night”. Les roses d’Ispahan sends infusions of rare scent all around, and Que d'étoiles dans les cieux! as stars in the heavens! yet none of these beguiling fragrances compare to the absent Leilah. We close this short set of mélodies with Fauré’s less well known Nocturne. Fauré had completed five of his On voit ses ombres dormantes One sees its sleeping shadows thirteen nocturnes for solo piano by the time he wrote this song, and his ability to create S'éclairer à tous moments, lit up, at every moment, a mood of infinite peace is hypnotic; his own ‘luxe, came et volupte’ perhaps. Autant par les fleurs charmantes as much by the charming flowers Que par les astres charmants. as by the charming stars.
After so heavily fragranced and emotionally turbulent a recital, we wish to end on a note Moi, ma nuit au sombre voile As for me, my darkly veiled night of eccentricity and experimentation with the help of Erik Satie. Air du Poète is a miniature, N'a, pour charme et pour clarté, has, for charm and for brightness, over four lines, telling the story of a visitor to Papua, who makes love to a local and then Qu'une fleur et qu'une étoile but one flower and one star: wishes that the object of his affections had not been a Papuan. The sombre nature of this Mon amour et ta beauté! my love and your beauty! piano part adds a certain ironic gravitas to the words.
Philippe-Auguste, Comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838-1889)
English translation © Peter Low
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Les roses d’Ispahan (1884) The Roses of Isfahan Satie’s Vexations consists of a short theme in the bass which appears four times,
alternating with treble chords. The original manuscript contains only half a sheet of Les roses d'Ispahan dans leur gaîne de mousse, The roses of Isfahan in their sheaths of moss, Les jasmins de Mossoul, les fleurs de l'oranger, the jasmines of Mosul, the orange blossoms, notation. The challenge lay in what is still debated as a curious, some argue Ont un parfum moins frais, ont une odeur have a fragrance less fresh, an aroma less misinterpreted instruction by Satie to play it eight hundred and forty times. Described in moins douce, sweet, the New York Times as “mild but menacing, exquisite but skewed, modest but exacting”, Ô blanche Léïlah! que ton souffle léger. O pale Leila, than your soft breath! the work has been performed all over the world, countless times (quite literally) in various quantities. As durations have varied, and a tradition of experimentation around Ta lèvre est de corail et ton rire léger Your lips are coral and your light laughter this cult work has grown, Susan and I felt it would be a fitting tribute to Satie to Sonne mieux que l'eau vive et d'une voix rings brighter and sweeter than running plus douce. water, experiment as we share the bass line and melody, which ends perfectly (not on its 840th Mieux que le vent joyeux qui berce l'oranger, than the joyous breeze that rocks the time I assure the listener!) on the starting note of the introduction to one of Satie’s most Mieux que l'oiseau qui chante au bord d'un orange-tree, beloved songs, Je te Veux, where erotic words sit on the pulse of a sentimental waltz. nid de mousse. than the bird singing by its mossy nest. I would like to record my sincere thanks to the French bank BNP Paribas and Anne Mais le subtile odeur des roses dans leur But the subtle fragrance of the roses in their Marie Verstraeten, Christine Croshaw, Stephen Malekian, Jeremy Sams, Richard moss, mousse, Thomas and Nimbus/RTF Classical for supporting Letters from Claude and this La brise qui se joue autour de l'oranger the breeze that plays around the orange-tree Et l'eau vive qui flue avec sa plainte douce and the spring-water flowing with its recording. Ont un charme plus sûr que ton amour plaintive murmur léger! have a more reliable charm than your fickle love! I am also indebted to the artist Tom Hammick for allowing us use of his beautiful work as a cover. I discovered Tom’s art through a mutual friend, and fell in love with our Ô Leïlah! depuis que de leur vol léger O Leila, ever since in their airy flight cover image, capturing perfectly as it does Baudelaire and Jeanne Duval’s longed for Tous les baisers ont fui de ta lèvre si douce all the kisses have fled from your lips so sweet, L’invitation au voyage. Il n'est plus de parfum dans le pâle oranger, there is no more fragrance from the pale orange- Ni de céleste arome aux roses dans leur tree mousse. no heavenly aroma from the roses in the moss. I corresponded with Tom on its suitability. A few emails in, Tom revealed that he had been an artist at Glyndebourne in 1999, the year of Jonathan Dove’s first success Flight. Tom even made some edition prints of the opera’s airport scenes. A happy sense of our own exploration here coming full circle.
Andrew Matthews-Owen, London, November 2018.
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Erik Satie (1866-1925) from TROIS MELODIES (1886) no.2
Élégie Eulogy Ne pas sentir, tant que ce rêve dure, while this dream lasts, not to feel Le temps durer ; time lingering; Mais n'apportant de passion profonde but only bringing profound passion J'ai vu décliner comme un songe, I’ve seen as if in a dream the loss, Qu'à s'adorer, to love one another, Cruel mensonge! (Cruel lie!) Sans nul souci des querelles du monde, without any care for the strifes of the world, Tout mon bonheur. of all my happiness. Les ignorer ; to know nothing of them; Au lieu de la douce espérance, Instead of sweet hope, Et seuls, heureux devant tout ce qui lasse, and alone together before all which grows weary, J'ai la souffrance I have suffering Sans se lasser, without growing weary ourselves, Et la douleur. and sadness. Sentir l'amour, devant tout ce qui passe, to feel love, in the face of all which ends, Ne point passer! never ending!
Autrefois ma folle jeunesse In the folly of my youth, Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907) Chantait sans cesse I sang unceasingly L'hymne d'amour. the song of love. Après un rêve (1865) After a Dream Mais la chimère caressée But the cherished dream S'est effacée was erased, Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image In a slumber which held your image En un seul jour. in a single day. Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage, spellbound Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et I dreamt of happiness, passionate mirage, sonore, J'ai dû souffrir mon long martyre, I’ve had to suffer my long martyrdom, your eyes were softer, your voice pure and Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par ringing, Sans le maudire, without cursing it, l'aurore; you shone like a sky lit up by the dawn; Sans soupirer. without sighing. Le seul remède sur la terre The only remedy on Earth Tu m'appelais et je quittais la terre You were calling me and I was leaving the earth À ma misère for my misery Pour m'enfuir avec toi vers la lumière, to flee with you towards the light; Est de pleurer. is to cry. Les cieux pour nous entr'ouvraient leurs nues, the skies parted their clouds for us, Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines unknown splendours, divine flashes entrevues, glimpsed,
Hélas! Hélas! triste réveil des songes Alas! Alas! Sad waking from dreams! Je t'appelle, ô nuit, rends moi tes I call on you, O night, give me back your mensonges, lies, Reviens, reviens radieuse, return, return resplendant, Reviens ô nuit mystérieuse! return O mysterious night.
Romaine Bussine (1830-1899) J. P. Contamine de Latour
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Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Erik Satie (1866-1925) TROIS MELODIES (1916)
Clair de lune (1887) Moonlight La statue de bronze The Bronze Statue
Votre âme est un paysage choisi Your soul is a chosen landscape Que vont charmant masques et charmed by revellers and the masked La grenouille The frog bergamasques, playing the lute and dancing, almost Du jeu de tonneau of the barrel game Jouant du luth et dansant, et quasi sad beneath their fantastical disguises! S'ennuie, le soir, sous la tonnelle... is bored in the evening under the arch. Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques! Elle en a assez! She’s had enough! All singing in a minor key D'être la statue of being the statue Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur of victorious love and lucky lives. Qui va prononcer un grand mot: Le who’s going to say a great word: The L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune. They don’t seem to believe in their good Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur, fortune, Mot! Word! Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune, and their song mingles with the moonlight, Elle aimerait mieux être avec les autres She’d rather be with the others Au calme clair de lune triste et beau, the calm moonlight, sad and beautiful, Qui font des bulles de musique who blow bubbles of music Qui fait rêver, les oiseaux les arbres, which sets the birds in the trees dreaming, Avec le savon de la lune with the soap of the moon Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau, and makes the fountains sob with ecstasy, Au bord du lavoir mordoré on the bank of the golden brown bath Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les the tall slender fountains amidst the marble Qu'on voit, là-bas, luire entre les that one sees, over there, shining marbres. statues! branches... between the branches... Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) On lui lance à coeur de journée At midday we throw Au bord de l’eau (1865) By the Water's Edge Une pâture de pistoles a feast of discs at her Qui la traversent sans lui profiter which pass her without helping S'asseoir tous deux au bord d'un flot qui To sit together by the flowing water, passe, to watch it pass by; Et s'en vont sonner And will resound Le voir passer ; together, if a cloud floats by in space, Tous deux, s'il glisse un nuage en l'espace, to watch it float by; Dans les cabinets in the chambers Le voir glisser ; if, on the horizon, a thatched roof is De son piédestal numéroté! of her numbered pedestal! À l'horizon, s'il fume un toit de chaume, smoking, Le voir fumer ; to watch it smoke; Et le soir, les insectes couchent And in the evening, the insects go to Aux alentours si quelque fleur embaume, if nearby some flower is spreading its Dans sa bouche... sleep in her mouth... S'en embaumer ; fragrance, Entendre au pied du saule où l'eau to pick up this fragrance; murmure to hear, at the foot of the willow where L'eau murmurer; the water is murmuring, Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947)
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Erik Satie (1866-1925) TROIS MELODIES (1916)
Daphénéo Dapheneo (7) 24 Décembre 1916 à Emma Bardac 24 December 1916 to Emma Bardac
Dis-moi, Daphénéo, quel est donc cet arbre Tell me, Dapheneo, what then is this tree Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël! Dont les fruits sont des oiseaux qui pleurent? whose fruits are weeping birds? Les cloches sont fêlées. The sound of broken bells. Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël! Cet arbre, Chrysaline, est un oisetier. That tree, Chrysaline, is a bird-tree. Elles ont trop pleuré ! Perhaps they’ve cried too much.
Ah! Je croyais que les noisetiers Ah! I’d thought that hazelnut trees 21 Mars 1905 à Lilly Texier 21 March 1905 to Lilly Texier Donnaient des noisettes, Daphénéo. bore hazelnuts, Dapheneo. Je déclare que rien au monde ne me fera I have to tell you that nothing on earth would Oui, Chrysaline, les noisetiers donnent des Yes, Chrysaline, hazelnut trees bear revoir les gens avec lesquels j’ai compel me to meet up with people with noisettes, hazelnuts, présentement rompu toute relation. whom I have broken off all relations. Mais les oisetiers donnent des oiseaux qui but bird-trees bear weeping birds. pleurent. Ah!... 22 Mars 1905 à Lilly Texier 22 March 1905 to Lilly Texier Ah!... Pourquoi nous revoir ? pour répéter What’s the point of us meeting up? Only to inutilement les mêmes choses, les mêmes endlessly repeat the same old things, the Le chapelier The Mad Hatter scènes de mauvais drame…. Trop de choses same awful scenes from some terrible play. mauvaises ou louches sont entre nous, trop de Too many things are askance and askew with Le chapelier s'étonne de constater The Mad Hatter is surprised to note mensonges et trop de potins…. us. Too many lies, too much gossip… Que sa montre retarde de trois jours, that his watch is three days slow, ….nous ne pourrions pas plus l’un que l’autre ….We can neither of us bear to see the other Bien qu'il ait eu soin de la graisser even though he took care to oil it supporter de nous retrouver… si ce n’est pour ….the only purpose would be to lie to each Toujours avec du beurre de première qualité. every day with highest quality butter. nous mentir jusqu’à ce que nous en soyons other till we are sick at heart. Is that really Mais il a laissé tomber des miettes But he let breadcrumbs écœurés ! Est-ce vraiment la peine ? worth it?
De pain dans les rouages, fall into its gears,
Et il a beau plonger sa montre dans le thé, and while he might plunge it in his tea, Ça ne le fera pas avancer advantage this will not make it work any better.
World premiere 15 May 2018 at the Purcell Commissioned by the Richard Thomas Room, Southbank Centre, London, Foundation. performed by Claire Booth (Emma Bardac), Susan Bickley (Lilly Texier) and Andrew English translation © Jeremy Sams, to whom René Chalupt (1885 - 1957) Matthews-Owen (piano) these songs are also dedicated.
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Claude Debussy (1862-1918) CINQ POEMES DE BEAUDELAIRE (1889)
(6) Juillet 1904 à Emma Bardac July 1904 to Emma Bardac 1. Le Balcon 1. The Balcony
Prière pour dire avant d’aller se coucher. = A prayer to say before going to bed. = Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses, Mother of memories, mistress of mistresses, Petite mienne qui êtes plus jolie que tout, My little one. The fairest of them all. Ô toi, tous mes plaisirs! ô toi, tous mes devoirs! O you, my every pleasure! O you, my every duty! Petite mienne qui êtes meilleure que les My little one. Lovelier than flowers Tu te rappelleras la beauté des caresses, You will remember the beauty of the caresses, fleurs. La douceur du foyer et le charme des soirs, the sweetness of the hearth, the charm of the evenings, 8 June 1899 to Lilly Texier Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses. mother of memories, mistress of mistresses. 8 Juin 1899 à Lilly Texier Dear little Lily. My little queen! My little fairy! Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon, The evenings lit by the glow of the coal, Chère petite Lilly.Petite reine! Petite fée! Et les soirs au balcon, voilés de vapeur rose. and the evenings on the balcony, veiled with pink mist. 12 June 1899 to Lilly Texier Que ton sein m'était doux! Que ton cœur m'était bon! How soft your breast was, how good your heart seemed! 12 Juin 1899 à Lilly Texier Nous avons dit souvent d'impérissables choses Often we said imperishable things …The empress of hearts. Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon. on evenings lit by the glow of the coal. …impératrice des cœurs ! The only source of the one joy that makes Dispensatrice du seul bonheur qui vaille la life worth living. Que les soleils sont beaux par les chaudes soirées! How beautiful the sun is on warm evenings! peine de vivre.. Lilly est dans Tout ! Tout est Everything is within Lily. Lily is within Que l'espace est profond! que le cœur est puissant! How vast is space! How powerful the human heart! dans Lilly ! everything En me penchant vers toi, reine des adorées, As I leant over you, oh queen of all adored ones, Je croyais respirer le parfum de ton sang. I believed I was breathing the fragrance of your blood. 31 Mars 1905 à Emma Bardac 31 March 1905 to Emma Bardac Que les soleils sont beaux par les chaudes soirées! How beautiful the sun is on warm evenings!
Petite Mienne aimée, My beloved little one. La nuit s'épaississait ainsi qu'une cloison, The night would thicken like a wall around us, … pour moi la vie n’a commencé que du My life only really began on the day I first Et mes yeux dans le noir devinaient tes prunelles, and in the dark my eyes would make out yours, jour où je t’ai connue et que j’espère qu’il knew you. I hope you feel the same way…. Et je buvais ton souffle. Ô douceur, ô poison! and I would drink your breath, O sweetness, O poison! en est ainsi pour toi ? Et tes pieds s'endormaient dans mes mains fraternelles, And your feet would fall asleep in my brotherly hands. La nuit s'épaississait ainsi qu'une cloison. The night would thicken like a wall around us.
3 Juillet 1899 à Lilly Texier 3 July 1899 to Lilly Texier Je sais l'art d'évoquer les minutes heureuses, I know how to evoke moments of happiness,
Et revis mon passé blotti dans tes genoux. and relive my past, nestling my head on your lap. …Tu m’as fait t’aimer plus qu’il n’est peut- ….You’ve made me love you more than a man Car à quoi bon chercher tes beautés langoureuses For why would I seek your languid beauty être permis à un homme… perhaps Ailleurs qu'en ton cher corps et qu'en ton cœur si doux? other than in your dear body and your so gentle heart?
Je sais l'art d'évoquer les minutes heureuses! I know how to evoke moments of happiness!
Ces serments, ces parfums, ces baisers infinis. Will those vows, perfumes, those countless kisses Renaîtront-ils d'un gouffre interdit à nos sondes be reborn from a chasm deeper than we may fathom Comme montent au ciel les soleils rajeunis like suns that rise rejuvenated into the sky Après s'être lavés au fond des mers profondes having cleansed themselves in the oceans' depths? O serments! ô parfums! ô baisers infinis! O sweet vows, O perfumes, O countless kisses!
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2. Harmonie du soir 2. Evening Harmony 6 Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac 6 June 1904 to Emma Bardac
Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige, Here come the moments when, quivering on Comme c’est gentil… et comme ça sent bon ! – How kind. And how fragrant. But it’s the thought Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un its stem, Mais surtout je suis profondément heureux de that delights me most. That has entered my heart encensoir; each flower exhales fragrance like a censer; votre pensée ; cela m’entre dans le cœur, s’y and stayed there. That’s you at your most Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air the sounds and perfumes whirl in the installe, et c’est pour ces choses-là que vous êtes unforgettable and adorable. You’ll forgive me, but I du soir, evening air, inoubliable et adorable… Pardonnez-moi si j’ai kissed all the flowers as if they had a human Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige. melancholy waltz and languid dizziness! embrassé toutes ces fleurs comme une bouche mouth. Does that sound crazy? vivante ; c’est peut-être fou ? Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir, Each flower exhales fragrance like a censer; Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige, the violin trembles like a heart in distress, (4) 9 Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac 9 June 1904 to Emma Bardac
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige, melancholy waltz and languid dizziness! « Il pleut fortement sur la ville. » “It’s raining hard on the town”. Would you be so Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand The sky is sad and beautiful like a vast altar. Voulez-vous être très gentille et m’accorder kind as to grant me a few moments this afternoon. reposoir; quelques instants cet après-midi ? – je voudrais I’d so much love to see you ‘all alone’. No
tant vous voir une fois « toute seule » sans contre- counterpoint , no development. If you could pay Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige, The violin trembles like a heart in distress, point ni développement – Si cela vous plaît de me a visit that would make me ridiculously happy. Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et a tender heart, which hates the huge, dark venir chez moi, j’en serai follement joyeux… noir! void!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand The sky is sad and beautiful like a vast altar; (5) 23 May 1899 à Lilly Texier 23 May 1899 to Lilly Texier reposoir; the sun drowned in its own congealing Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se blood. Ma Lilly aimée : My beloved Lily. fige... Je t’aime… je t’aime… Je m’ennuie avec une I love you, I love you. I’m prodigiously, almost prodigieuse ingéniosité… je ne pense qu’à ton inventively bored. I can think only of your return, Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et A tender heart, which hates the huge, dark retour et aux trois jours que tu dois me donner, and of the three whole days which you will grant noir, void, cela me fait délicieusement mal…. me. And such a delicious ache it gives me. Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige. gathers up every relic of the harmonious past! Mon Dieu que je t’aime. God how I love you. Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se The sun drowned in its own congealing fige, - blood, - 20 Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac 20 Juin 1904 to Emma Bardac Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir. my memory of you shines like a monstrance! Bonjour Madame Bardac ? Hallo Madame Bardac ?
Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac June 1904 to Emma Bardac
Oui… ! Oui ! Oui ! Yes… ! Yes ! Yes ! (le chœur) (That’s the chorus) Même pour le mauvais dîner And even for the terrible supper
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Jonathan Dove (1959- ) LETTERS FROM CLAUDE (2018)
(1) 21 Avril 1899 à Lilly Texier 21 April 1899 to Lilly Texier 3. Le jet d'eau 3. The Fountain
Ma chère petite Lili. Si tu étais très gentille, My dear little Lily. Would you be so kind as Tes beaux yeux sont las, pauvre amante! Your beautiful eyes are weary, my poor beloved! tu mettrais ton jupon rose et ton chapeau to put on your pink petticoat and your black Reste longtemps, sans les rouvrir, stay a long while without opening them, noir et viendrais me dire bonjour Dimanche hat and to come and say hello to me next Dans cette pose nonchalante in this carefree pose prochain vers 2 ½, on causerait et l’on Sunday. Say about half past two?...... Où t'a surprise le plaisir. in which pleasure has caught you by surprise. projetterait quelques petites fêtes avec Dans la cour le jet d'eau qui jase In the courtyard the fountain which chatters Georges. Your affectionate, and devoted… Claude Et ne se tait ni nuit ni jour, and is quiet neither by night nor by day, Ton affectueusement dévoué…..Claude Debussy Debussy Entretient doucement l'extase gently sustains the ecstasy Où ce soir m'a plongé l'amour. into which love has thrown me this evening. (2) 24 Avril 1899 à Lilly Texier 24 April 1899 to Lilly Texier La gerbe d'eau qui berce The spray of water which cradles Vois-tu, Lili jolie ; il y avait en nous, presque Can you now see, lovely Lily, that there was Ses mille fleurs, its thousand flowers malgré nous, quelque chose d’ardemment something that was always in us -maybe in Que la lune traverse which the moon penetrates passionné qui brûlait secrètement et spite of us. Something ardent and De ses pâleurs, with its pale light, n’attendait qu’une occasion de se passionate which was secretly burning, Tombe comme une averse falls like a shower manifester. waiting only for the opportunity to make De larges pleurs. of heavy tears. …Impatient de ta bouche, de ton corps et itself known. I’m impatient for your mouth, de t’aimer for your body. And to love you. Ainsi ton âme qu'incendie Even so your soul, set ablaze L'éclair brûlant des voluptés by the burning spark of pleasure, (3) 1 Mai 1899 à Lilly Texier 1 May 1899 to Lilly Texier S'élance, rapide et hardie, leaps up, swift and bold, Vers les vastes cieux enchantés. towards the vast enchanted skies. Qu’est-ce qu’elle fait, en ce moment la Lili What is she doing right now, the Lovely Lily? Puis, elle s'épanche, mourante, And then it falls back, dying, jolie ?... probablement elle prête la grâce Probably lending the slender grace of her En un flot de triste langueur, in a wave of sad languor effilée de son corps body to various gorgeous dresses, which, Qui par une invisible pente which by an invisible slope à de très somptueuses robes, qui orneront later on, will adorn the faded bodies of Descend jusqu'au fond de mon coeur. descends into the depths of my heart. plus tard les corps défraîchis de quelques various old dolls. As for me, I’m embarking vieilles poupées… Moi, je commence la on a series of sad, sullen days. Days bereft Ô toi, que la nuit rend si belle, O you, whom the night makes so beautiful, série de ces jours tristes et maussades où il of almost all joy, except for the feverish, Qu'il m'est doux, penché vers tes seins, how sweet it is for me, leaning on your breasts, n’y aura guère de joie possible, si ce n’est passionate anticipation of that which I love D'écouter la plainte éternelle to listen to the eternal lament dans l’attente fiévreuse et passionnée de ce most in the world. Actually, I’m not at all Qui sanglote dans les bassins! sobbing in the pools! que j’aime le plus au monde. Je ne sais sure how to live any more, since it seems Lune, eau sonore, nuit bénie, Moon, sonorous water, blessed night, d’ailleurs, pas très bien, comment je vais that my whole life seems to be completely Arbres qui frissonnez autour, trees who tremble all round, vivre, tant il me semble que toute ma vie wrapped up in yours. Votre pure mélancolie your pure melancholy s’est réfugiée en toi … Est le miroir de mon amour. is the reflection of my love.
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4. Recueillement 4. Meditative Calm 5. La mort des amants 5. The Death of the Lovers
Sois sage, ô ma Douleur, et tiens-toi plus Be wise, o my Pain, and stay calmer. Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères, We shall have beds filled with gentle perfumes, tranquille; You called for the Evening; it is falling; here Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux, couches as deep as tombs, Tu réclamais le Soir: il descend, le voici: it is: Et d'étranges fleurs sur des étagères, and displays of exotic flowers Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe la ville, a shadowy atmosphere envelops the town, Écloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux. blooming for us under fairer skies. Aux uns portant la paix, aux autres le souci. bringing peace to some, anxiety to the others. Usant à l'envi leurs chaleurs dernières, Vying with each other in their last warmth, Tandis que des mortels la multitude vile, Whilst the base multitude of mortals, Nos deux coeurs seront deux vastes flambeaux, our two hearts will be two vast torches, Sous le fouet du Plaisir, ce bourreau sans Under the whip of pleasure, that merciless Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières which will reflect their double lights merci, executioner, Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux. in both our spirits, these twin mirrors. Va cueillir des remords dans la fête servile, goes to gather remorse in the servile feast, Ma Douleur, donne-moi la main; viens par ici, my Pain, give me your hand; come this way, Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique, One evening of mystic pink and blue Nous échangerons un éclair unique, we shall exchange a single spark, Loin d'eux. Vois se pencher les défuntes far from them. See the dead Years leaning Comme un long sanglot tout chargé d'adieux ; like a long sob, burdened with parting; Années, from the balconies of heaven, in old- Sur les balcons du ciel, en robes surannées. fashioned clothes, see smiling Regret rising Et plus tard un ange, entr'ouvrant les portes, and later an angel, half opening the gates, Surgir des fonds de l'eau le Regret souriant from the depth of the waters, Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux, will come, faithful and happy, to bring Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes. the tarnished mirrors and dead flames to life again. Le Soleil moribond s'endormir sous une see the dying Sun falling asleep under an arche; arch; English translation © Peter Low Et, comme un long linceul traînant à and, like a long shroud trailing towards the l'Orient, Orient, Entends, ma chère, entends la douce Nuit hear, my dear, hear the step of gentle qui marche. Night..
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4. Recueillement 4. Meditative Calm 5. La mort des amants 5. The Death of the Lovers
Sois sage, ô ma Douleur, et tiens-toi plus Be wise, o my Pain, and stay calmer. Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères, We shall have beds filled with gentle perfumes, tranquille; You called for the Evening; it is falling; here Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux, couches as deep as tombs, Tu réclamais le Soir: il descend, le voici: it is: Et d'étranges fleurs sur des étagères, and displays of exotic flowers Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe la ville, a shadowy atmosphere envelops the town, Écloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux. blooming for us under fairer skies. Aux uns portant la paix, aux autres le souci. bringing peace to some, anxiety to the others. Usant à l'envi leurs chaleurs dernières, Vying with each other in their last warmth, Tandis que des mortels la multitude vile, Whilst the base multitude of mortals, Nos deux coeurs seront deux vastes flambeaux, our two hearts will be two vast torches, Sous le fouet du Plaisir, ce bourreau sans Under the whip of pleasure, that merciless Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières which will reflect their double lights merci, executioner, Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux. in both our spirits, these twin mirrors. Va cueillir des remords dans la fête servile, goes to gather remorse in the servile feast, Ma Douleur, donne-moi la main; viens par ici, my Pain, give me your hand; come this way, Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique, One evening of mystic pink and blue Nous échangerons un éclair unique, we shall exchange a single spark, Loin d'eux. Vois se pencher les défuntes far from them. See the dead Years leaning Comme un long sanglot tout chargé d'adieux ; like a long sob, burdened with parting; Années, from the balconies of heaven, in old- Sur les balcons du ciel, en robes surannées. fashioned clothes, see smiling Regret rising Et plus tard un ange, entr'ouvrant les portes, and later an angel, half opening the gates, Surgir des fonds de l'eau le Regret souriant from the depth of the waters, Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux, will come, faithful and happy, to bring Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes. the tarnished mirrors and dead flames to life again. Le Soleil moribond s'endormir sous une see the dying Sun falling asleep under an arche; arch; English translation © Peter Low Et, comme un long linceul traînant à and, like a long shroud trailing towards the l'Orient, Orient, Entends, ma chère, entends la douce Nuit hear, my dear, hear the step of gentle qui marche. Night..
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Jonathan Dove (1959- ) LETTERS FROM CLAUDE (2018)
(1) 21 Avril 1899 à Lilly Texier 21 April 1899 to Lilly Texier 3. Le jet d'eau 3. The Fountain
Ma chère petite Lili. Si tu étais très gentille, My dear little Lily. Would you be so kind as Tes beaux yeux sont las, pauvre amante! Your beautiful eyes are weary, my poor beloved! tu mettrais ton jupon rose et ton chapeau to put on your pink petticoat and your black Reste longtemps, sans les rouvrir, stay a long while without opening them, noir et viendrais me dire bonjour Dimanche hat and to come and say hello to me next Dans cette pose nonchalante in this carefree pose prochain vers 2 ½, on causerait et l’on Sunday. Say about half past two?...... Où t'a surprise le plaisir. in which pleasure has caught you by surprise. projetterait quelques petites fêtes avec Dans la cour le jet d'eau qui jase In the courtyard the fountain which chatters Georges. Your affectionate, and devoted… Claude Et ne se tait ni nuit ni jour, and is quiet neither by night nor by day, Ton affectueusement dévoué…..Claude Debussy Debussy Entretient doucement l'extase gently sustains the ecstasy Où ce soir m'a plongé l'amour. into which love has thrown me this evening. (2) 24 Avril 1899 à Lilly Texier 24 April 1899 to Lilly Texier La gerbe d'eau qui berce The spray of water which cradles Vois-tu, Lili jolie ; il y avait en nous, presque Can you now see, lovely Lily, that there was Ses mille fleurs, its thousand flowers malgré nous, quelque chose d’ardemment something that was always in us -maybe in Que la lune traverse which the moon penetrates passionné qui brûlait secrètement et spite of us. Something ardent and De ses pâleurs, with its pale light, n’attendait qu’une occasion de se passionate which was secretly burning, Tombe comme une averse falls like a shower manifester. waiting only for the opportunity to make De larges pleurs. of heavy tears. …Impatient de ta bouche, de ton corps et itself known. I’m impatient for your mouth, de t’aimer for your body. And to love you. Ainsi ton âme qu'incendie Even so your soul, set ablaze L'éclair brûlant des voluptés by the burning spark of pleasure, (3) 1 Mai 1899 à Lilly Texier 1 May 1899 to Lilly Texier S'élance, rapide et hardie, leaps up, swift and bold, Vers les vastes cieux enchantés. towards the vast enchanted skies. Qu’est-ce qu’elle fait, en ce moment la Lili What is she doing right now, the Lovely Lily? Puis, elle s'épanche, mourante, And then it falls back, dying, jolie ?... probablement elle prête la grâce Probably lending the slender grace of her En un flot de triste langueur, in a wave of sad languor effilée de son corps body to various gorgeous dresses, which, Qui par une invisible pente which by an invisible slope à de très somptueuses robes, qui orneront later on, will adorn the faded bodies of Descend jusqu'au fond de mon coeur. descends into the depths of my heart. plus tard les corps défraîchis de quelques various old dolls. As for me, I’m embarking vieilles poupées… Moi, je commence la on a series of sad, sullen days. Days bereft Ô toi, que la nuit rend si belle, O you, whom the night makes so beautiful, série de ces jours tristes et maussades où il of almost all joy, except for the feverish, Qu'il m'est doux, penché vers tes seins, how sweet it is for me, leaning on your breasts, n’y aura guère de joie possible, si ce n’est passionate anticipation of that which I love D'écouter la plainte éternelle to listen to the eternal lament dans l’attente fiévreuse et passionnée de ce most in the world. Actually, I’m not at all Qui sanglote dans les bassins! sobbing in the pools! que j’aime le plus au monde. Je ne sais sure how to live any more, since it seems Lune, eau sonore, nuit bénie, Moon, sonorous water, blessed night, d’ailleurs, pas très bien, comment je vais that my whole life seems to be completely Arbres qui frissonnez autour, trees who tremble all round, vivre, tant il me semble que toute ma vie wrapped up in yours. Votre pure mélancolie your pure melancholy s’est réfugiée en toi … Est le miroir de mon amour. is the reflection of my love.
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2. Harmonie du soir 2. Evening Harmony 6 Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac 6 June 1904 to Emma Bardac
Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige, Here come the moments when, quivering on Comme c’est gentil… et comme ça sent bon ! – How kind. And how fragrant. But it’s the thought Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un its stem, Mais surtout je suis profondément heureux de that delights me most. That has entered my heart encensoir; each flower exhales fragrance like a censer; votre pensée ; cela m’entre dans le cœur, s’y and stayed there. That’s you at your most Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air the sounds and perfumes whirl in the installe, et c’est pour ces choses-là que vous êtes unforgettable and adorable. You’ll forgive me, but I du soir, evening air, inoubliable et adorable… Pardonnez-moi si j’ai kissed all the flowers as if they had a human Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige. melancholy waltz and languid dizziness! embrassé toutes ces fleurs comme une bouche mouth. Does that sound crazy? vivante ; c’est peut-être fou ? Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir, Each flower exhales fragrance like a censer; Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige, the violin trembles like a heart in distress, (4) 9 Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac 9 June 1904 to Emma Bardac
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige, melancholy waltz and languid dizziness! « Il pleut fortement sur la ville. » “It’s raining hard on the town”. Would you be so Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand The sky is sad and beautiful like a vast altar. Voulez-vous être très gentille et m’accorder kind as to grant me a few moments this afternoon. reposoir; quelques instants cet après-midi ? – je voudrais I’d so much love to see you ‘all alone’. No
tant vous voir une fois « toute seule » sans contre- counterpoint , no development. If you could pay Le violon frémit comme un coeur qu'on afflige, The violin trembles like a heart in distress, point ni développement – Si cela vous plaît de me a visit that would make me ridiculously happy. Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et a tender heart, which hates the huge, dark venir chez moi, j’en serai follement joyeux… noir! void!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand The sky is sad and beautiful like a vast altar; (5) 23 May 1899 à Lilly Texier 23 May 1899 to Lilly Texier reposoir; the sun drowned in its own congealing Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se blood. Ma Lilly aimée : My beloved Lily. fige... Je t’aime… je t’aime… Je m’ennuie avec une I love you, I love you. I’m prodigiously, almost prodigieuse ingéniosité… je ne pense qu’à ton inventively bored. I can think only of your return, Un coeur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et A tender heart, which hates the huge, dark retour et aux trois jours que tu dois me donner, and of the three whole days which you will grant noir, void, cela me fait délicieusement mal…. me. And such a delicious ache it gives me. Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige. gathers up every relic of the harmonious past! Mon Dieu que je t’aime. God how I love you. Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se The sun drowned in its own congealing fige, - blood, - 20 Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac 20 Juin 1904 to Emma Bardac Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir. my memory of you shines like a monstrance! Bonjour Madame Bardac ? Hallo Madame Bardac ?
Juin 1904 à Emma Bardac June 1904 to Emma Bardac
Oui… ! Oui ! Oui ! Yes… ! Yes ! Yes ! (le chœur) (That’s the chorus) Même pour le mauvais dîner And even for the terrible supper
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Claude Debussy (1862-1918) CINQ POEMES DE BEAUDELAIRE (1889)
(6) Juillet 1904 à Emma Bardac July 1904 to Emma Bardac 1. Le Balcon 1. The Balcony
Prière pour dire avant d’aller se coucher. = A prayer to say before going to bed. = Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses, Mother of memories, mistress of mistresses, Petite mienne qui êtes plus jolie que tout, My little one. The fairest of them all. Ô toi, tous mes plaisirs! ô toi, tous mes devoirs! O you, my every pleasure! O you, my every duty! Petite mienne qui êtes meilleure que les My little one. Lovelier than flowers Tu te rappelleras la beauté des caresses, You will remember the beauty of the caresses, fleurs. La douceur du foyer et le charme des soirs, the sweetness of the hearth, the charm of the evenings, 8 June 1899 to Lilly Texier Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses. mother of memories, mistress of mistresses. 8 Juin 1899 à Lilly Texier Dear little Lily. My little queen! My little fairy! Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon, The evenings lit by the glow of the coal, Chère petite Lilly.Petite reine! Petite fée! Et les soirs au balcon, voilés de vapeur rose. and the evenings on the balcony, veiled with pink mist. 12 June 1899 to Lilly Texier Que ton sein m'était doux! Que ton cœur m'était bon! How soft your breast was, how good your heart seemed! 12 Juin 1899 à Lilly Texier Nous avons dit souvent d'impérissables choses Often we said imperishable things …The empress of hearts. Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon. on evenings lit by the glow of the coal. …impératrice des cœurs ! The only source of the one joy that makes Dispensatrice du seul bonheur qui vaille la life worth living. Que les soleils sont beaux par les chaudes soirées! How beautiful the sun is on warm evenings! peine de vivre.. Lilly est dans Tout ! Tout est Everything is within Lily. Lily is within Que l'espace est profond! que le cœur est puissant! How vast is space! How powerful the human heart! dans Lilly ! everything En me penchant vers toi, reine des adorées, As I leant over you, oh queen of all adored ones, Je croyais respirer le parfum de ton sang. I believed I was breathing the fragrance of your blood. 31 Mars 1905 à Emma Bardac 31 March 1905 to Emma Bardac Que les soleils sont beaux par les chaudes soirées! How beautiful the sun is on warm evenings!
Petite Mienne aimée, My beloved little one. La nuit s'épaississait ainsi qu'une cloison, The night would thicken like a wall around us, … pour moi la vie n’a commencé que du My life only really began on the day I first Et mes yeux dans le noir devinaient tes prunelles, and in the dark my eyes would make out yours, jour où je t’ai connue et que j’espère qu’il knew you. I hope you feel the same way…. Et je buvais ton souffle. Ô douceur, ô poison! and I would drink your breath, O sweetness, O poison! en est ainsi pour toi ? Et tes pieds s'endormaient dans mes mains fraternelles, And your feet would fall asleep in my brotherly hands. La nuit s'épaississait ainsi qu'une cloison. The night would thicken like a wall around us.
3 Juillet 1899 à Lilly Texier 3 July 1899 to Lilly Texier Je sais l'art d'évoquer les minutes heureuses, I know how to evoke moments of happiness,
Et revis mon passé blotti dans tes genoux. and relive my past, nestling my head on your lap. …Tu m’as fait t’aimer plus qu’il n’est peut- ….You’ve made me love you more than a man Car à quoi bon chercher tes beautés langoureuses For why would I seek your languid beauty être permis à un homme… perhaps Ailleurs qu'en ton cher corps et qu'en ton cœur si doux? other than in your dear body and your so gentle heart?
Je sais l'art d'évoquer les minutes heureuses! I know how to evoke moments of happiness!
Ces serments, ces parfums, ces baisers infinis. Will those vows, perfumes, those countless kisses Renaîtront-ils d'un gouffre interdit à nos sondes be reborn from a chasm deeper than we may fathom Comme montent au ciel les soleils rajeunis like suns that rise rejuvenated into the sky Après s'être lavés au fond des mers profondes having cleansed themselves in the oceans' depths? O serments! ô parfums! ô baisers infinis! O sweet vows, O perfumes, O countless kisses!
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Erik Satie (1866-1925) TROIS MELODIES (1916)
Daphénéo Dapheneo (7) 24 Décembre 1916 à Emma Bardac 24 December 1916 to Emma Bardac
Dis-moi, Daphénéo, quel est donc cet arbre Tell me, Dapheneo, what then is this tree Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël! Dont les fruits sont des oiseaux qui pleurent? whose fruits are weeping birds? Les cloches sont fêlées. The sound of broken bells. Noël! Noël! Noël! Noël! Cet arbre, Chrysaline, est un oisetier. That tree, Chrysaline, is a bird-tree. Elles ont trop pleuré ! Perhaps they’ve cried too much.
Ah! Je croyais que les noisetiers Ah! I’d thought that hazelnut trees 21 Mars 1905 à Lilly Texier 21 March 1905 to Lilly Texier Donnaient des noisettes, Daphénéo. bore hazelnuts, Dapheneo. Je déclare que rien au monde ne me fera I have to tell you that nothing on earth would Oui, Chrysaline, les noisetiers donnent des Yes, Chrysaline, hazelnut trees bear revoir les gens avec lesquels j’ai compel me to meet up with people with noisettes, hazelnuts, présentement rompu toute relation. whom I have broken off all relations. Mais les oisetiers donnent des oiseaux qui but bird-trees bear weeping birds. pleurent. Ah!... 22 Mars 1905 à Lilly Texier 22 March 1905 to Lilly Texier Ah!... Pourquoi nous revoir ? pour répéter What’s the point of us meeting up? Only to inutilement les mêmes choses, les mêmes endlessly repeat the same old things, the Le chapelier The Mad Hatter scènes de mauvais drame…. Trop de choses same awful scenes from some terrible play. mauvaises ou louches sont entre nous, trop de Too many things are askance and askew with Le chapelier s'étonne de constater The Mad Hatter is surprised to note mensonges et trop de potins…. us. Too many lies, too much gossip… Que sa montre retarde de trois jours, that his watch is three days slow, ….nous ne pourrions pas plus l’un que l’autre ….We can neither of us bear to see the other Bien qu'il ait eu soin de la graisser even though he took care to oil it supporter de nous retrouver… si ce n’est pour ….the only purpose would be to lie to each Toujours avec du beurre de première qualité. every day with highest quality butter. nous mentir jusqu’à ce que nous en soyons other till we are sick at heart. Is that really Mais il a laissé tomber des miettes But he let breadcrumbs écœurés ! Est-ce vraiment la peine ? worth it?
De pain dans les rouages, fall into its gears,
Et il a beau plonger sa montre dans le thé, and while he might plunge it in his tea, Ça ne le fera pas avancer advantage this will not make it work any better.
World premiere 15 May 2018 at the Purcell Commissioned by the Richard Thomas Room, Southbank Centre, London, Foundation. performed by Claire Booth (Emma Bardac), Susan Bickley (Lilly Texier) and Andrew English translation © Jeremy Sams, to whom René Chalupt (1885 - 1957) Matthews-Owen (piano) these songs are also dedicated.
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Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Erik Satie (1866-1925) TROIS MELODIES (1916)
Clair de lune (1887) Moonlight La statue de bronze The Bronze Statue
Votre âme est un paysage choisi Your soul is a chosen landscape Que vont charmant masques et charmed by revellers and the masked La grenouille The frog bergamasques, playing the lute and dancing, almost Du jeu de tonneau of the barrel game Jouant du luth et dansant, et quasi sad beneath their fantastical disguises! S'ennuie, le soir, sous la tonnelle... is bored in the evening under the arch. Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques! Elle en a assez! She’s had enough! All singing in a minor key D'être la statue of being the statue Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur of victorious love and lucky lives. Qui va prononcer un grand mot: Le who’s going to say a great word: The L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune. They don’t seem to believe in their good Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur, fortune, Mot! Word! Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune, and their song mingles with the moonlight, Elle aimerait mieux être avec les autres She’d rather be with the others Au calme clair de lune triste et beau, the calm moonlight, sad and beautiful, Qui font des bulles de musique who blow bubbles of music Qui fait rêver, les oiseaux les arbres, which sets the birds in the trees dreaming, Avec le savon de la lune with the soap of the moon Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau, and makes the fountains sob with ecstasy, Au bord du lavoir mordoré on the bank of the golden brown bath Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les the tall slender fountains amidst the marble Qu'on voit, là-bas, luire entre les that one sees, over there, shining marbres. statues! branches... between the branches... Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) On lui lance à coeur de journée At midday we throw Au bord de l’eau (1865) By the Water's Edge Une pâture de pistoles a feast of discs at her Qui la traversent sans lui profiter which pass her without helping S'asseoir tous deux au bord d'un flot qui To sit together by the flowing water, passe, to watch it pass by; Et s'en vont sonner And will resound Le voir passer ; together, if a cloud floats by in space, Tous deux, s'il glisse un nuage en l'espace, to watch it float by; Dans les cabinets in the chambers Le voir glisser ; if, on the horizon, a thatched roof is De son piédestal numéroté! of her numbered pedestal! À l'horizon, s'il fume un toit de chaume, smoking, Le voir fumer ; to watch it smoke; Et le soir, les insectes couchent And in the evening, the insects go to Aux alentours si quelque fleur embaume, if nearby some flower is spreading its Dans sa bouche... sleep in her mouth... S'en embaumer ; fragrance, Entendre au pied du saule où l'eau to pick up this fragrance; murmure to hear, at the foot of the willow where L'eau murmurer; the water is murmuring, Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947)
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Erik Satie (1866-1925) from TROIS MELODIES (1886) no.2
Élégie Eulogy Ne pas sentir, tant que ce rêve dure, while this dream lasts, not to feel Le temps durer ; time lingering; Mais n'apportant de passion profonde but only bringing profound passion J'ai vu décliner comme un songe, I’ve seen as if in a dream the loss, Qu'à s'adorer, to love one another, Cruel mensonge! (Cruel lie!) Sans nul souci des querelles du monde, without any care for the strifes of the world, Tout mon bonheur. of all my happiness. Les ignorer ; to know nothing of them; Au lieu de la douce espérance, Instead of sweet hope, Et seuls, heureux devant tout ce qui lasse, and alone together before all which grows weary, J'ai la souffrance I have suffering Sans se lasser, without growing weary ourselves, Et la douleur. and sadness. Sentir l'amour, devant tout ce qui passe, to feel love, in the face of all which ends, Ne point passer! never ending!
Autrefois ma folle jeunesse In the folly of my youth, Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907) Chantait sans cesse I sang unceasingly L'hymne d'amour. the song of love. Après un rêve (1865) After a Dream Mais la chimère caressée But the cherished dream S'est effacée was erased, Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image In a slumber which held your image En un seul jour. in a single day. Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage, spellbound Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et I dreamt of happiness, passionate mirage, sonore, J'ai dû souffrir mon long martyre, I’ve had to suffer my long martyrdom, your eyes were softer, your voice pure and Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par ringing, Sans le maudire, without cursing it, l'aurore; you shone like a sky lit up by the dawn; Sans soupirer. without sighing. Le seul remède sur la terre The only remedy on Earth Tu m'appelais et je quittais la terre You were calling me and I was leaving the earth À ma misère for my misery Pour m'enfuir avec toi vers la lumière, to flee with you towards the light; Est de pleurer. is to cry. Les cieux pour nous entr'ouvraient leurs nues, the skies parted their clouds for us, Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines unknown splendours, divine flashes entrevues, glimpsed,
Hélas! Hélas! triste réveil des songes Alas! Alas! Sad waking from dreams! Je t'appelle, ô nuit, rends moi tes I call on you, O night, give me back your mensonges, lies, Reviens, reviens radieuse, return, return resplendant, Reviens ô nuit mystérieuse! return O mysterious night.
Romaine Bussine (1830-1899) J. P. Contamine de Latour
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Les roses d’Ispahan (1884) The Roses of Isfahan Satie’s Vexations consists of a short theme in the bass which appears four times,
alternating with treble chords. The original manuscript contains only half a sheet of Les roses d'Ispahan dans leur gaîne de mousse, The roses of Isfahan in their sheaths of moss, Les jasmins de Mossoul, les fleurs de l'oranger, the jasmines of Mosul, the orange blossoms, notation. The challenge lay in what is still debated as a curious, some argue Ont un parfum moins frais, ont une odeur have a fragrance less fresh, an aroma less misinterpreted instruction by Satie to play it eight hundred and forty times. Described in moins douce, sweet, the New York Times as “mild but menacing, exquisite but skewed, modest but exacting”, Ô blanche Léïlah! que ton souffle léger. O pale Leila, than your soft breath! the work has been performed all over the world, countless times (quite literally) in various quantities. As durations have varied, and a tradition of experimentation around Ta lèvre est de corail et ton rire léger Your lips are coral and your light laughter this cult work has grown, Susan and I felt it would be a fitting tribute to Satie to Sonne mieux que l'eau vive et d'une voix rings brighter and sweeter than running plus douce. water, experiment as we share the bass line and melody, which ends perfectly (not on its 840th Mieux que le vent joyeux qui berce l'oranger, than the joyous breeze that rocks the time I assure the listener!) on the starting note of the introduction to one of Satie’s most Mieux que l'oiseau qui chante au bord d'un orange-tree, beloved songs, Je te Veux, where erotic words sit on the pulse of a sentimental waltz. nid de mousse. than the bird singing by its mossy nest. I would like to record my sincere thanks to the French bank BNP Paribas and Anne Mais le subtile odeur des roses dans leur But the subtle fragrance of the roses in their Marie Verstraeten, Christine Croshaw, Stephen Malekian, Jeremy Sams, Richard moss, mousse, Thomas and Nimbus/RTF Classical for supporting Letters from Claude and this La brise qui se joue autour de l'oranger the breeze that plays around the orange-tree Et l'eau vive qui flue avec sa plainte douce and the spring-water flowing with its recording. Ont un charme plus sûr que ton amour plaintive murmur léger! have a more reliable charm than your fickle love! I am also indebted to the artist Tom Hammick for allowing us use of his beautiful work as a cover. I discovered Tom’s art through a mutual friend, and fell in love with our Ô Leïlah! depuis que de leur vol léger O Leila, ever since in their airy flight cover image, capturing perfectly as it does Baudelaire and Jeanne Duval’s longed for Tous les baisers ont fui de ta lèvre si douce all the kisses have fled from your lips so sweet, L’invitation au voyage. Il n'est plus de parfum dans le pâle oranger, there is no more fragrance from the pale orange- Ni de céleste arome aux roses dans leur tree mousse. no heavenly aroma from the roses in the moss. I corresponded with Tom on its suitability. A few emails in, Tom revealed that he had been an artist at Glyndebourne in 1999, the year of Jonathan Dove’s first success Flight. Tom even made some edition prints of the opera’s airport scenes. A happy sense of our own exploration here coming full circle.
Andrew Matthews-Owen, London, November 2018.
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With their shared love for Emma Bardac, it seems only right that we include some songs L'oiseau, sur le duvet humide et sur la mousse, The bird, in its nest of moist feathers or moss, by Gabriel Fauré, a composer whose music plays beautifully with illusion and reality, like Ne chante plus parmi la rose et l'oranger; sings no more among the roses and orange-trees; L'eau vive des jardins n'a plus de chanson the springs in the gardens have lost their soft song; the ever-changing refractions of light on water, which inspired so much in his douce, and dawn no longer gilds the pure and weightless compositions. These melodies also allow us respite from the hedonism of Baudelaire and L'aube ne dore plus le ciel pur et léger. sky. the intensity of Debussy’s letters. Oh! que ton jeune amour, ce papillon léger, Oh, if only your youthful love, that light butterfly, There is no programmatic reasoning behind our selection, other than they are beautiful Revienne vers mon coeur d'une aile prompte would return to my heart on swift and gentle melodies, which we have had in our musical lives for some time, and revelled in the et douce. wings, opportunity of including here. Et qu'il parfume encor de l'oranger, and perfume once more the orange blossom Les roses d'Ispahan dans leur gaîne de mousse. and the roses of Isfahan in their sheath of moss.
Much like the themes encountered in this recital, Fauré’s chosen texts evoke messages of Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894) love in its myriad of moods and perceptions. In Clair de lune, as we encountered in Le Balcon, singer and pianist take different paths, dare I say mirroring Fauré’s own unhappy marriage, concluding with the excitement of pursuit being marred by the inescapable Nocturne (1886) Nocturne finality of parting. Fauré’s rolling setting of Au bord de l’eau bears witness to the inevitable The night, above the great mystery, passing of time, as currents of water drift by, whilst in Après un rêve the lover, in romantic La nuit, sur le grand mystère, Entr'ouvre ses écrins bleus: half opens its blue jewel caskets: flight, stirs from a dream, and on waking wishes to return to the magical falsehood of Autant de fleurs sur la terre, As many flowers on earth his “mysterious night”. Les roses d’Ispahan sends infusions of rare scent all around, and Que d'étoiles dans les cieux! as stars in the heavens! yet none of these beguiling fragrances compare to the absent Leilah. We close this short set of mélodies with Fauré’s less well known Nocturne. Fauré had completed five of his On voit ses ombres dormantes One sees its sleeping shadows thirteen nocturnes for solo piano by the time he wrote this song, and his ability to create S'éclairer à tous moments, lit up, at every moment, a mood of infinite peace is hypnotic; his own ‘luxe, came et volupte’ perhaps. Autant par les fleurs charmantes as much by the charming flowers Que par les astres charmants. as by the charming stars.
After so heavily fragranced and emotionally turbulent a recital, we wish to end on a note Moi, ma nuit au sombre voile As for me, my darkly veiled night of eccentricity and experimentation with the help of Erik Satie. Air du Poète is a miniature, N'a, pour charme et pour clarté, has, for charm and for brightness, over four lines, telling the story of a visitor to Papua, who makes love to a local and then Qu'une fleur et qu'une étoile but one flower and one star: wishes that the object of his affections had not been a Papuan. The sombre nature of this Mon amour et ta beauté! my love and your beauty! piano part adds a certain ironic gravitas to the words.
Philippe-Auguste, Comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838-1889)
English translation © Peter Low
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Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Air du poète Air du poète Jonathan Dove and I discussed this at length when exploring potential texts for the cycle I commissioned him to write. We eventually settled on the idea of setting to music a Au pays de Papouasie On the shores of Papoetan Bayee selection of letters written by Debussy to his first wife Rosalie Texier (“Lilly”) and second J'ai caressé la Pouasie... I stroked the skin of Poetrayee. wife Emma Bardac, who was the mother of his cherished only child. La grâce que je vous souhaite For you I wish the blest condition C'est de n'être pas Papouète. of not being Papoetician. Jonathan Dove writes:
Debussy was an astonishingly prolific letter-writer, and he had a way with words. His first letter to Rosalie Texier (“Lilly”) is dated 21 April 1899. Lilly was a friend of Gabrielle Vexations Dupont, with whom Debussy was living in a not entirely exclusive relationship, and for a while Debussy carried on with both women. Lilly accepted his offer of marriage after he a half sheet of notation, with threatened suicide, and they were married in October 1899. instructions that the motif be repeated eight hundred and forty times. Despite his growing success, Debussy continued to give private piano lessons. A young pupil, Raoul Bardac, introduced Debussy to his mother, Emma. She had been a lover of Gabriel Fauré, and was the dedicatee of La Bonne Chanson. In June 1904 Debussy wrote his first letters to her, alongside equally affectionate letters to his wife. But then in August he wrote a letter to Lilly which ended their relationship. Lilly attempted suicide, which created a scandal! Debussy’s later letters to Lilly in March 1905 are cold, even hostile. Three years later, he married Emma.
The texts for “Letters from Claude” are from sixteen of Debussy’s letters - some are complete letters, some only fragments. I imagine that, perhaps after Debussy’s death, Lilly and Emma just happen to be re-reading some of his letters in their different homes at the same moment. Their memories are, of course, full of his music, and so the piano accompaniments are each prompted by a chord or phrase from piano pieces Debussy wrote around this time - Suite Bergamasque (1890-1905) and Estampes (1903) - along with the earlier Danse (1890).
“Letters from Claude” is dedicated to Jeremy Sams, who kindly lent me an enormous volume of Debussy’s letters, and translated these songs for this programme.
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This song, indeed all five songs, dare the singer and pianist to think broadly and Je te veux (1903) I Want You orchestrally. The colours they evoke are of deep jewels, as if looking at an isolated fragment of a Titian painting. Everything is passionate and deeply serious. There can be J'ai compris ta détresse, I’ve understood your distress, nothing half-hearted in our efforts to explore these songs. Poet and composer dare us to Cher amoureux, my dear lover, get in between the dots, over bar lines, and, as Baudelaire himself once reacted to Et je cède à tes voeux: and yield to your desires: Wagner’s music, to revel in “a veritable arabesque of sounds sketched out by passion”. Fais de moi ta maîtresse. Make me your mistress. Loin de nous la sagesse, Let us abandon reason, I would like to add that this is not an essay or analysis of the songs we are presenting. Space Plus de détresse, no more sadness, limitations with the sleeve ensures that priority is given to the texts, rather than artist biographies J'aspire à l'instant précieux I long for the precious moment or this pianist’s musings, and rightly so. The composers started with the texts, and so should Où nous serons heureux: when we’ll be happy: we. I hope this short note will serve to give the listener an insight into why we programmed this Je te veux. I want you. recital, how it came about and simply the love we have for the words and music themselves.
Nearly all songs I have performed or recorded have been inspired by love, loss, or both, Je n'ai pas de regrets, I have no regrets, Et je n'ai qu'une envie: and I have but one wish: and few composers’ songs have the autobiographical honesty as those of Claude Debussy. Mary Garden (Mélisande in the original 1902 production of Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Près de toi, là, tout près, close, very close by you, Vivre toute ma vie. to live my whole life long. Mélisande) noted: “I honestly don’t know if Debussy ever loved anybody really. He loved Que mon coeur soit le tien Let my heart be yours his music - and perhaps himself.” This changed with the birth of his beloved daughter Et ta lèvre la mienne, and your lips mine, Emma-Claude (“Chou Chou”) in 1905, but his own love life is tumultuous to say the least. Que ton corps soit le mien, let your body be mine, This fascinated me. We feel we know so much about this man through his music, at least Et que toute ma chair soit tienne. and all my flesh yours. we think we do, but through his own correspondence a much clearer picture emerges, which makes for very interesting reading. Oui, je vois dans tes yeux Yes, I see in your eyes La divine promesse, the divine promise, Shortly after attending an enlightening recital of words and music by Debussy, I was Que ton coeur amoureux that your loving heart intrigued by the composer’s ability to shock and amuse. His letters and postcards display Vient chercher ma caresse. is searching out my caress. a lovable rogue whose company was exciting, unpredictable and rarely dull. Of a society Enlacés pour toujours, Entwined forever, lady who insisted on singing his songs he wrote that “she sings like a locomotive in Brûlés des mêmes flammes, consumed by the same desire, distress, but her buttered scones are marvellous”. On a trip to Budapest, Debussy Dans des rêves d'amours, in dreams of love remarked that “the Hungarians are all liars, but charming, and I brought back some Nous échangerons nos deux âmes. we’ll share our two souls. wonderful chocolates!”. This irreverent humour, coupled with his musical gifts, made him irresistible to many women, something the composer did little to discourage. Henry Pacory (1873-?) English translation © Richard Thomas
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NOTES ON THE COMPOSERS
Jonathan Dove (1959- ) is an acclaimed and prolific composer. Few composers working Short in duration, each song packs considerable impact and has an irresistible today have embraced the modern opera house as consistently and successfully. His charm. From the opening cakewalk-like introduction of La Statue de Bronze, the incomparable catalogue of more than twenty diverse operatic works is indicative of a piano hopping around to help illustrate the frustration of a heavy statue longing to practical and lively theatrical mind, steeped in operatic experience. In all his music, Dove be a real frog, blowing bubbles in a pond, to the the ironic dignity of Daphénéo, has a strong desire to communicate, to entertain, and to provoke transformative where we overhear a daydream about trees between two faux-mythical characters experiences. His musical language is at once immediately appreciated by listeners new Daphénéo and Chrysaline. The set is rounded off with Le Chapelier (“fairly brisk, in to the concert hall and has provided performers, audiences and directors with rich the manner of Gounod”) which could be the ramblings of the Mad Hatter himself. possibilities for interpretation; several of his major operatic works have been performed in multiple productions all over the world, and his list of commissioners includes some of Composed between 1887 and 1889, Debussy’s Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire the world's greatest musicians. He is one of the only living composers able to write hurl us into the sensual worlds of Baudelaire’s words and Richard Wagner’s successful comic opera, to sustain a company through 150 performances of a single harmonies. When I first started exploring them as a student, these songs were unlike opera, or to captivate a million viewers with a single performance. any Debussy I had previously played. I remember going to the library at the Royal Academy of Music to research whether or not these songs had originally been written Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) although married, was “extremely attractive to for voice and orchestra, so similar to oft uncomfortable operatic score reductions women…..and noted for his conquests”, including Emma Bardac. A refined and were they under my fingers. I could not understand why these notes were so difficult sensitive composer, his works were noted for their harmonic and melodic innovation. to get into the muscle memory; their movement somehow heavier than the Debussy I had discovered in Ariettes oubilées or Chansons de Bilitis, the harmonies more Claude Debussy (1862-1918) had a turbulent private life, as is perhaps evident from the densely packed and the perfume around the them an intoxicating Oud, rather than letters Jonathan has chosen to set to music. His innovative compositions must have been the subtle scents I had associated with this composer. surprising and shocking when first heard. He was a close friend of Erik Satie. Baudelaire wrote that “music often pulls me like a tide” and Debussy’s approach in Erik Satie (1866-1925) was an eccentric and colourful figure in the world of early 20th setting Le Balcon responds in kind, capturing the impetuous tone of the writing, as century Parisian avant-garde. An original and experimental composer; a talented writer; rich harmonies roll by in broad gestures, with unexpected, fleeting undercurrents, a member of the communist party; a mystic who invented his own religion, and a heavy often not with the voice, rather a backdrop to the singer’s own navigation. The song drinker; in addition to his friendship with Debussy he formed a close friendship with Jean is at once epic yet personal, and dedicated to the poet’s mistress Jeanne Duval. Cocteau and was involved with the Dada movement. A few distinguished pianist friends and colleagues share my view that this song is almost too much for what the human voice and keyboard can capture. As an interpreter, few songs have made this pianist feel both navigator and voyeur as blatantly as Le Balcon. The words are impulsive, and the music swirling around them dense with a harmonic potential that is suitably fruitless to attempt to predict.
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INTRODUCTION by ANDREW MATTHEWS-OWEN NOTES ON THE PEFORMERS
This recording came about as a result of a coffee chat I had in 2017 with my long time Susan Bickley is one of the most accomplished mezzo-sopranos of her generation, with a duo partner Claire Booth. We talked about the forthcoming Debussy centenary, our wide repertory encompassing the Baroque, the great 19th and 20th century dramatic roles, enormous admiration for the composer, and how his five settings of Charles Baudelaire’s as well as contemporary repertoire. In May 2011 she received the prestigious Singer Award poems are among the most complex scores we had both explored. Claire and I decided at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, the highest recognition for live classical music in it would be a timely opportunity to revisit these songs again, so I embarked on the UK. She has performed widely in opera, concert and recital roles, and recorded programming a concert which would bring together some of the important musical and extensively. personal strands which ran through Debussy’s life. Claire Booth, soprano, a leading light of the contemporary classical music scene, is Claude Debussy’s own story is one which a mere sleeve note cannot begin to touch upon. internationally renowned both for her commitment to an extraordinary breadth of His life was governed by one rule, illustrated perfectly in an encounter with one of his repertoire, and for the vitality and musicianship that she brings to the operatic stage and tutors, Ernest Guiraud, who remarked that Debussy’s harmonic navigation in one concert platform. exercise defied the laws of music: “There is no theory, you merely have to listen. Pleasure is the law.” responded the student. Andrew Matthews-Owen is among the most sought-after collaborative pianists of his generation, with a passionate commitment to contemporary music, regularly appearing in As I started researching Debussy’s life, exploring his songs, and reading recollections of concert, and on commercial recordings with some of the finest classical artists of our time. his friends and detractors, particularly the words he wrote to his wife and mistress, an image emerges, almost in technicolour, of a man who blazed through a life which was often brilliant and occasionally devastating.
As we remember this composer, one hundred years after his death, it seems apt to begin with an Élégie by Erik Satie, with whom Debussy enjoyed a warm friendship. One of the first written accounts of their friendship in fact is a dedication to Satie on copy No.45 of the Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire: ‘Erik Satie, gentle mediaeval musician, who has strayed into this century for the joy of his good friend Claude A. Debussy’ (27 October 1892).
Satie’s Trois Mélodies of 1916 provide swift contrast to the meditative elegy they follow, www.jonathandove.com and the tumultuous settings of Baudelaire which they precede. For these songs, the www.intermusica.co.uk/artist/susan-bickley listener is best served by reading the texts, which our producer declared to be “bonkers www.claire-booth.com and wonderful”, to which we agreed! www.andrewmatthews-owen.com
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RTF Classical releases at November 2018 Andrew Matthews-Owen, Jonathan Dove (playing), Claire Booth, Susan Bickley Purcell Room 15 May 2018, photo © Sebastian Böttcher 2018
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RTF Classical is a record label owned by the Richard Thomas Foundation, aiming to bring interesting and occasionally challenging pieces of contemporary music to new audiences.
Releases through Nimbus Alliance include: Alec Roth’s String Quartets played by the Allegri String Quartet (NI 6321); the Ives Ensemble playing music by Laurence Crane (NI 6337); Andrew Matthews-Owen playing piano solos by composers Hannah Kendall, Joseph Phibbs and Dobrinka Tabakova (NI 6354); and chamber music by composer Charlotte Bray (N1 6371).
THANKS
The recording has been made possible through the support of BNP Paribas, and of individual donors including Stephen Malekian. RECORDING
Recording dates: 20 to 22 May 2018 Piano: Steinway & Sons Location: Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK Tonmeister: Michael Csányi-Wills
COVER IMAGE
Out of Time, 2016, Oil on canvas, ©Tom Hammick, Courtesy of Flowers Gallery London and New York, all rights reserved Bridgeman Images, 2017
FURTHER INFORMATION
www.rtfclassical.com www.rtfn.eu
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