FLORENT SCHMITT Mélodies

Sybille Diethelm soprano Annina Haug mezzo-soprano Nino Aurelio Gmünder tenor René Perler bass-baritone Fabienne Romer piano Edward Rushton piano Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) Chansons à quatre voix, Op. 39 (1905) Quatre Poèmes de Ronsard, Op. 100 (1942) 1. Véhémente [1:22] 19. Si… [2:36] Mélodies 2. Nostalgique [2:01] 20. Privilèges [1:42] 3. Naïve [2:51] 21. Ses deux yeux [2:49] 4. Boréale [1:26] 22. Le soir qu’Amour [3:02] 5. Tendre [4:12] 1–6, 11–13 & 23–25 Sybille Diethelm soprano 6. Marale [1:48] Trois Chants, Op. 98 (1943) Annina Haug mezzo soprano 1–6 & 17–18 23. Elle était venue [5:13] Nino Aurelio Gmünder tenor 1–10 & 19–22 Quatre Lieds, Op. 45 (1912) 24. La citerne des mille René Perler bass-baritone 1–6 & 14–16 7. Où vivre? [1:32] colonnes – Yéré Batan [6:07] Fabienne Romer piano 1–10, 17–18 & 23–25 8. Evocaon [1:38] 25. La tortue et le 1–6, 11–16 & 19–22 9. Fleurs décloses [2:23] lièvre – Fable [4:06] Edward Rushton piano 10. Ils ont tué trois petes filles [2:51]

Kérob-Shal, Op. 67 (1924) Total playing me [72:33] 11. Octroi [3:55] 12. Star [2:16] 13. Vendredi XIII [3:38] All world premiere recordings apart Trois Mélodies, Op. 4 (1895) from Op. 98, Op. 100 & Op. 4, No. 2 14. Lied [3:11] 15. Il pleure dans mon coeur [2:57] 16. Fils de la Vierge [2:44]

Deux Chansons, Op. 18 (1901) 17. Neige, coeur et lys [3:32] 18. Chanson bretonne [2:28] Florent Schmitt: Mélodies rhythms; […] aggregaons of harmonies beyond any convenon or analysis, […] While Florent Schmi’s orchestral works seeking the most paradoxical sonories, are well-represented on disc, his songs daring combinaons of mbres, by its have been seriously neglected. Some tropical orchestraons, iridescent and of are recorded here for the first me. unbelievable sumptuousness, […] by an The qualies that appeal in his larger excess of an unheard-of luxuriance of works are in abundance in this selecon refinement and preciosity [— …] the that spans his enre creave life: his music […] gives us the impression of the music’s gorgeous sensuality, bing wit, darkest barbarity.’ laconic charm, and unleashed savagery. Especially in the works of the 1920s, his It seems that Schmi was much given to composional techniques are extremely voicing his opinion from the stalls. At the complex, in some cases ancipang Salle Pleyel in November 1933, his Messiaen and the Spectralists, while his contribuon was less defensible than in affinity with the darker side of human 1913: he responded to three songs from existence is always fascinang. ’s Der Silbersee, in the presence of the composer, who had fled Schmi had publicly proclaimed his that year, by shoung ‘Vive Hitler!’ and modernist credenals at the premiere of ‘We have enough bad musicians here Le Sacre du Printemps, when he loudly without imporng German Jews!’. Schmi defended it against the bourgeois regreably later collaborated with the nay-sayers. At that stage of Stravinsky’s Vichy regime during the Second World career the admiraon was mutual; War, in his posion as Honorary Stravinsky heard La Tragédie de Salomé Vice-president of the musical secon in 1907, and received the dedicaon of of the Groupe Collaboraon. On the the full orchestral version. Stravinsky’s present album we perform works music resonated deeply in Schmi at that Schmi composed during this period. me, and his words about Le Sacre, in I admit that thus endorsing music part, might equally be a descripon of composed by a man who was his own music, or of what he wished his simultaneously shaking hands with Nazis le to right: Edward Rushton, Fabienne Romer, Sybille Diethelm, Annina Haug, Nino Aurelio Gmünder, René Perler own music to be: ‘[…] its frenec agitaon; gave me pause, and I wanted to face the […] the senseless whirl of its hallucinang responsibility of squaring admiraon for Schmi’s music, and my desire to perform Schmi on the French Wikipedia page each voice speaks its own version of the outskirts of at dawn (note the bird-song it, with disgust at his polical errors of gives a balanced and unparsan view ‘Arabian poem’, all talking in counterpoint in the piano part that ancipates Messiaen judgment. I had to be absolutely convinced of this troubled aspect of his biography. with each other in an encingly, gesturally and harmonically, but not that I needn’t feel guilt about performing intoxicangly complex mesh and weave. conceptually, being descripve of a banal these songs. The conclusions I reached, Schmi was born on 28 September 1870 As if by sleight of hand, the voices sort of bird-song ‘such as there is heaps of’). offered here as a basis for debate with in the eastern French region of Lorraine. converge in longing and harmony at Impassive calm returns aer the violence those who disagree: first, Schmi’s Perhaps the proximity to the border with certain crucial moments. of the customs officer, brutally depicted in musical aesthec is diametrically opposed Germany gave rise to his affinity with the piano le hand. In Star, the sight of a to that of the Nazis, and furthermore German culture and Wagnerism, but The astonishing songs of the 1910s and brilliant shoong star provokes excitement there is no reflecon of any ansemic, whatever the reasons, I would like to 20s are suffused with darker, expressionisc in one observer, silence and despair in the an-modernist or pro-Nazi atudes in single out one instrumental work in sounds which underscore the crypc and other (note that in the final bar, all twelve his music, whether in style, allusion or connecon with our compilaon of his fathomless poetry. This is a world of notes sound in close proximity, an choice of texts. The music is always songs: the suite Reflets d’Allemagne, Op. 28, nightmares and fantascal visions, typical astonishing and obliterave gesture). In apolical. In addion, there is no further composed in 1905. Reflets is a series of of Schmi’s predilecon for weird and the four strophes of Vendredi XIII, the fatal evidence of ansemism in Schmi’s waltzes for piano duet, each movement’s savage exocism. The four Lieds Op. 45 power of four dried-out fountains brings extensive wrings and correspondence: tle the name of a German city (despite the tle, all sengs of out the worst in the four people who the infamous 1933 incident appears to (incidentally, the fih is ‘Vienne’, contemporary French poets) are saturated come into contact with them. be the sum total, and so it would be ancipang Austria’s assimilaon into in harmonies augmented and diminished kind towards Schmi to interpret this ‘Germany’ by more than thirty years). The to tonally uncategorisable breaking-point. Our programme returns for a lile relief outburst as a typically provocave Chansons à quatre voix Op. 39, also from They are all pilessly obsessed with death to some of Schmi’s earlier songs. The aempt at shocking his peers. 1905, are closely related to Reflets and the death of love. Even the archangels Mélodies Op. 4 inhabit the voluptuous Secondly, it seems unfair that many of d’Allemagne, in that they are a sequence at the close of the fourth song bring no world of late Romancism. Even if this is Schmi’s contemporaries of dubious of waltz-vignees, incorporate a piano elevated illuminaon. more familiar territory, some of Schmi’s polical leanings are unquesoningly part played by four hands (naturally giving personal and highly individual fingerprints feted and performed, even when their rise to memories of Brahms), and are The tle of the Op. 67 cycle, Kérob-Shal, are already audible, such as the descending music is much less interesng. Lastly, if sprinkled with many cross-references and is an example of Schmi’s fondness for chain of fihs, a tritone apart, that curls we confined ourselves solely to music reminiscences of Reflets. The Chansons are crypc word-games. What sounds like some through Lied, providing a stark counterpoint composed by morally unquesonable full of joy, fire and sensuousness. The tles exoc incantaon turns out simply to be a to the deliberately monotonous vocal line. people, the world would be much are all adjecves in the feminine gender, mash-up of the first syllables of the poets’ Both the other songs end on unresolved impoverished; genuine and pure referring not to female characters but names: Kerdyk, Aubry and Chalupt. In these harmonies, surely a sign of rebellion from appreciaon of music can be divorced simply agreeing with the genre ‘chanson’: dangerously alluring songs, violent acons a twenty-four-year-old composer from the biography of its composers. ‘Chanson véhémente’, ‘Chanson naïve’, are performed against a placid backdrop. uninterested in following rules. For those interested, the arcle on and so on. The fih is worth singling out: Octroi depicts a cold landscape on the In the Chansons Op. 18 we hear two sides of Elle était venue in the piano postlude. In Texts and translaons to Schmi’s personality: the melancholic La citerne aux milles colonnes, the Basilica Chansons à quatre voix, Op. 39 (1905) in Neige, Coeur et Lys, followed by the Cistern in Istanbul is impressively portrayed 1. Véhémente 1. Vehement brazen gallows-humour of the Chanson in the music. The moon of a passing boat Ah! Assez dormir, ma belle, Ah! Enough sleep, my beauty, bretonne, in which the tongue-in-cheek inspires Schmi to ecstac waves of water Ta cavale Isabelle Isabelle, your mare faux-Puccini of the urchin’s life in Paradise music. Finally, unbounded exuberance and Hennit sous tes balcons: is neighing beneath your balconies, Allons, en chasse! Come on, let’s hunt! amid harps and angels contrasts strikingly child-like pleasure in story-telling Vois tes piqueurs alertes, See your lively drivers and hilariously with the earthy harsh reality characterise his seng of Charles Sanglier’s Et sur leurs manches vertes with the falcons’ black feet of the ending. version of the fable of the tortoise and the Les pieds noirs des faucons: on their green sleeves! hare. Sanglier (wild boar) was not only the Allons, en chasse! Tally-ho!

In the Poèmes de Ronsard Op. 100, chosen pen name of the poet Charles Vallet Vois écuyers et pages, See the riders and the page boys, Schmi for once sets a non-contemporary (an anarchisc postal worker with a literary En galants équipages, a gallant team poet. During the Second World War, he bent), but was also Schmi’s own nickname: Sans rochet ni pourpoint, without rales and doublets, Têtes chaperonnées, heads unhaed turns his back on his beloved Germanic the Wild Boar of the Ardennes. Trainer les haquenées, leading the horses, culture and reawakens his links to old Leur arbalète au poing! crossbow in hand! , much as Debussy had done © Edward Rushton, 2020 during the First World War. Schmi Vois bondir dans les herbes See the superb greyhounds Les lévriers superbes, bounding through the grass, marries the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard, Les chiens trapus crier! and the burly dogs baying! itself alive with references to the culture En chasse, et chasse heureuse! Tally ho, and happy hunng! of Classical anquity, to the sounds Allons, l’amoureuse, Come on, my lover, and rhythms of ancient music. He may Le pied dans l’étrier! your foot in the srrups! also have been inspired by the revival of Allons, mon intrépide, Come on, my fearless one, interest in the harpsichord, at the hands Ta cavale rapide your speedy mare of and her pupil Frappe du pied le sol: is scratching the ground with her feet: Allons, en chasse! Tally-ho! Marcelle de Lacour, for whom Schmi Et ton bouffon balance And your fool is swinging composed his Le clavecin obtémperant Comme un soldat sa lance, his merry parasol in 1945. But the neoclassical Schmi Son joyeux parasol: like a soldier brandishing his lance. remains authenc Schmi, as the musical Allons, en chasse! Tally-ho! boldness and joyous humour tesfy. Aer Alfred de Musset (1810–1857)

An epic group of Trois Chants Op. 98 rounds off our disc. Schmi brilliantly and daringly shrugs off the accumulated eroc tension 2. Nostalgique 2. Nostalgic 4. Boréale 4. Boreal Fugive, l’heure s’envole, Fleengly, me flies away, Ô nuage aux doux contours, O cloud with the so contours, Rien ne peut arrêter sa course folle; nothing can halt its mad course. Léger nuage aux flancs neigeux, light cloud with snowy flanks, Ô symbole, triste symbole O symbol, sad symbol Vers quelle plage, sous quels cieux towards which coasts, under which skies De nos plaisirs, de nos beaux jours. of our pleasures, of our fine days. T’emportent les grands vents d’orage? are the great storm-winds carrying you?

D’un bonheur trop vite effacé, Memories of happiness too soon erased Ô fils d’une zône plus brûlante, O son of torrid zones, Le souvenir nous reste éternellement. stay with us for eternity. Ne viens-tu pas do you not come, Par lui, le présent monotone se colore Through them, the monotonous present Arrives-tu du sein profond des mers do you reach us from the deep breast of the seas, Des reflets plus brillants du passé. is coloured by brilliant reflecons of the past. Pour servir à la parure to serve as the finery D’un bonheur enfui rapidement The memory of fleeng happiness D’un autre horizon of other, more vermillion horizons? Le souvenir nous reste éternellement. stays with us for ever. Bien plus vermeil?

Anonymous Anonymous

3. Naïve 3. Naive 5. Tendre 5 Tender Nina, ton frais sourire, Nina, your fresh smile, Basse Bass Nina, ton cœur qui soupire, Nina, your sighing heart, Toi qu’au jeune âge en mon chemin j’avais rêvée You, of whom I dreamt, at a tender age on my path, ta voix, tes yeux, qui font dire your voice, your eyes, which make us Je t’ai trouvée I have found you. qu’on croit au bonheur d'aimer. say that we believe in love's happiness. Ô toi que j’avais rêvée, donne à ma tendresse un doux espoir! O you whom I dreamt, give sweet hope to my tenderness! Quand l’hirondelle vole et ramène le doux printemps fleuri... When the swallow flies and brings back the sweet flowered spring… Nina, ces chères années, Nina, these dear years, A tout cœur tendre qu’il n’est qu’un temps! for any fond heart there is only one me! Nina, ces douces journées, Nina, these sweet days, Ô toi qu’autrefois j’avais rêvée en mon chemin, O you whom I dreamt of once on my path, Ces roses fanées, these wilted roses, Je t’ai trouvée enfin! I have found you at last! Toutes choses mortes sur ton cœur. all dead things on your heart. Hélas! tout est désir, tout est douleur! Alas! All is longing, all is pain! Toujours, toujours, toi présente, Always, always, when you are there, Nina, ô ma charmante, Nina, o my charming one, Tout est plaisir, tout est tendresse, tout est amour! all is pleasure, all is tenderness, all is love! Pendant la tourmente, all the while we were tormented, La mer écumante grondait à nos yeux! the foaming sea bellowed in our eyes! Ténor Tenor Ah! plein de bonheur j’aime à te voir Ah! filled with of happiness, I love to see your Aimable et belle Italie, sagesse ou folie, Lovely and beauful Italy, wisdom or madness, De mon amour combler l’espoir. hope being fulfilled through my love. Jamais, jamais ne t’oubliera no one who has ever once contemplated you, A re d’aile, vole et rappelle On a wing, sweet flowering spring Qui t’a pu contempler une fois, who has for one day seen your blue skies, Le doux printemps fleuri. flies and reminds us. Qui a vu un jour ton bleu ciel! will ever be able to forget you. C’est pour apprendre que pour se rendre It is to learn that there is only one me Il n’est qu’un temps! to give oneself! Toujours plus chérie, tu seras la patrie, Ever dearer, you will be our homeland, Ô toi, ma seule envie, O you, my enre desire, Toujours ta rive fleurie your flowering coasts Mon seul bonheur, toute ma vie my happiness, my whole life Restera la patrie que désire l'amour! will ever be the dear land which love desires! Est dans ton cœur! is in your heart. Hélas! en ton absence Alas! In your absence Aer Alfred de Musset Tout est désir, tout est douleur. all is longing, all is pain.

Mais toujours, en ta présence But always, in your presence, 6. Marale 6. Maral Tout est plaisir, tout est tendresse, all is pleasure, all is tenderness, Beau chevalier qui partez pour la guerre, Handsome knight leaving for war, Tout est oubli, tout est ivresse, all is oblivion, all is intoxicaon, Qu’allez-vous faire aussi loin d’ici? what are going to do, so far from here? Tout est bonheur d’amour! all is the bliss of love! Qu’allez-vous faire aussi loin de nous? What will you do so far from us? Voyez-vous pas que la nuit est profonde Do you not see that the night is deep, Mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano Et que le monde n’est que souci? and that the world is nothing but sorrow? Toi qu’au jeune âge, autrefois, You whom I dreamt in earlier days, J’en vais pleurer, moi qui me laissais dire And me? I will weep, I who was told J’avais rêvé sur mon chemin, on my path, I have found you. Que mon sourire était si doux. that my smile was so sweet. Je t’ai trouvé. Ah! You whom I had dreamt! A re d’aile... On a wing… Aer Alfred de Musset Le doux printemps, the sweet spring. C’est pour apprendre It is to learn Quatre Lieds, Op. 45 (1912) A tout cœur tendre that for every tender heart 7. Où vivre? 7. Where should I live? Que pour se rendre there is only one me Dans quelle ombre In which shade Il n’est qu’un temps! to give oneself! Étouffer mon ennui? suffocate my depression? Hélas! en ton absence tout est désir, tout est douleur... Alas! In your absence all is longing, all is pain… Ma tristesse est plus sombre My sadness is darker Hélas! tout est désir et douleur... Alas! All is longing and pain… Que la nuit. than the night. Toujours, en ta présence tout est plaisir et douceur, Always, in your presence all is pleasure and sweetness, Plaisir, douceur, tendresse, ivresse, pleasure, sweetness, tenderness, intoxicaon, Où mourir? Sous quelle onde Where should I die? Under which wave Oubli, bonheur, toujours en ta présence, oblivion, bliss, always in your presence, Noyer mon deuil amer? drown my bier mourning? Toujours, toujours, tout est amour! always, always, all is love! Ma peine est plus profonde My sorrow is deeper Que la mer. than the sea. Soprano Soprano Ah! pleine d’ivresse, je veux de ta tendresse Ah! Fully intoxicated, I want your tenderness Où fuir? De quelle sorte Where should I flee to? How combler l’espoir. to fulfil my hope. Égorger mon remords? strangle my remorse? Quand l’hirondelle vole et rappelle le doux When the swallow flies and brings back the sweet Ma douleur est plus forte My pain is stronger printemps fleuri. flowered spring. Que la mort. than death. Il n’est qu’un temps! There is only one me! Pour se rendre il n’est qu’un temps... Ah! To give oneself, there is only one me… Ah! Jean Richepin (1849–1926) Ah! toi qu’autrefois j’avais rêvé sur mon chemin, Ah! You, whom I dreamt in earlier mes on my path, Je t’ai trouvé: avec ivresse à ta tendresse I have found you: with intoxicaon and tenderness 8. Évocaon 8. Evocaon Un doux espoir je veux donner. I wish to give you a sweet hope. Ah! A sweet hope. Te souviens-tu du baiser, Do you remember the kiss, Ô toi, ma seule envie, mon seul bonheur O you, my only desire, my only happiness, Du premier que je vins prendre? the first one that I came to claim? Ma vie est dans ton cœur! my life is in your heart! Tu ne sus pas refuser, You did not know how to refuse it, Hélas! en ton absence tout est désir, Alas! In your absence all is longing, Mais tu n’osas pas le rendre. but you did not dare return it. Tout est douleur... Toujours, en ta présence, all is pain… Always, in your presence, Toujours, toujours, tout est plaisir tendresse, always, always, all is pleasure, tenderness, Te souviens-tu du baiser, Do you remember the kiss, Oubli, bonheur, ivresse, oblivion, happiness, intoxicaon, Du dernier que je vins prendre? the last one I came to claim? Tout est bonheur, tout est amour! all is bliss, all is love! Tu n’osas pas refuser; You did not dare refuse it Mais tu ne sus pas le rendre. But you did not know how to return it. Aer a Persian poem Jean Richepin 9. Fleurs décloses 9. Closed flowers Tandis que le gabelou de la lance while the customs-officer with his lance Nous aimer, à quoi bon, hélas! What is the use of our loving, alas! Perce le secret des tombereaux. pierces the carts’ secret. avant que s’en vienne l’automne, Before autumn comes va, nos pauvres coeurs seront las, our poor hearts will be red, René Kerdyk (1885–1945) car l’amour est si monotone... for love is so monotonous… 12. Star Ne nous aimons pas, nous verrons If we do not love each other, we will soon see 12. Star Two lovers see a shoong star: one urgently requests the nos larmes et nos peines bien vite effacées... our tears and our worries wiped out… Text by G. Jean Aubry (1882–1950) other to make a wish, but the other is too late. L’hiver viendra, nous oublierons Winter will come, we will forget fleurs décloses, amours passées... closed flowers, past loves… 13. Vendredi XIII 13. Friday XIII Text by René Chalupt (1885–1957) Three out of four dried-up fountains in the Jardin du Catulle Blée (1869–?) Luxembourg have in the past borne witness to various scandalous events. The poet is desned to drown himself 10. Ils ont tué trois petes filles 10. They killed three lile girls in the fourth. Pour voir ce qu’il y a dans leur cœur. to see what was in their hearts. Trois Mélodies, Op. 4 (1895) Le premier était plein de bonheur; The first was full of gladness; 14. Lied 14. Lied Et partout où coula son sang, and everywhere her blood flowed Les roses de l’autre année The roses of yesteryear Trois serpents sifflèrent trois ans. three snakes hissed for three years. Sont mortes comme un crépuscule, have died like a dusk, Les roses de l’autre année the roses of yesteryear Le deuxième était plein de douceur, The second was full of sweetness, S’effeuillent au vent qui module shed their petals in the wind Et partout où coula son sang, and everywhere her blood flowed, Ta chanson d’abandonnée, which alters your forsaken song, Trois agneaux broutèrent trois ans. three lambs grazed for three years. Ô silencieuse fanée! you silent, wilted one! Ta chanson d’abandonnée The song of one forsaken Le troisième était plein de malheur, The third was full of sadness, Sanglotant dans le crépuscule, sobbing in the dusk, Et partout où coula son sang, and everywhere her blood flowed, Ta chanson d’abandonnée your forsaken song Trois archanges veillèrent trois ans. three archangels kept watch for three years. Dans les frondaisons où l’or brûle in the fallen leaves, where the gold D’une guirlande égrenée, of a loosened garland glows, Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Ô toi frissonnante étonnée! O shivering astonished one! D’une guirlande égrenée Out of the loosened garland Kérob-Shal, Op. 67 (1924) Dont s’éplore en ce crépuscule in this dusk, pale and unleashed 11. Octroi 11. Customs House La mort si pâle égrenée death sings a lament, Tout un paysage en lignes blanches, A whole landscape of white lines, Comme à ton front où, triste et nulle, as on your forehead where, sad and void, L’octroi de Paris est un Foujita the customs house of Paris is a Foujita Rêve une mort d’autre année, the death of a past year is dreaming, Avec un oiseau sur une branche with a bird on a branch Ô douce Ariane fané! o sweet, wilted Ariadne! D’un arbre comme il y en a des tas. of a tree like so many others. Camille Mauclair (1872–1945) Un réverbère est encore en vie A street lamp is sll alive Sur la grille qui coupe du jour on the railings which cut up the daylight, 15. Il pleure dans mon coeur 15. There is crying in my heart Et dans cee pete aube en sourdine and into this lile muted dawn Comme il pleut sur la ville; like the rain over the town. C’est le passage des topinambours. pass the Jerusalem archokes. Quelle est cee langueur What is this lassitude Qui pénètre mon cœur? that enters my heart? Tout un monde somnolent s’avance A whole sleepy world advances Ô bruit doux de la pluie, O gentle sound of the rain, En cee lumière d’échafaud into this scaffold-like light Par terre et sur les toits! on the ground and on the roofs! Pour un cœur qui s’ennuie, For a depressed heart Ô le chant de la pluie! the song of the rain! Le lys naît virginal Fleur d’ange, The lily is born as a virginal angel flower, Mais, le soir venu, le lys change but, come the evening, the lily changes Il pleure sans raison There is no reason for the crying et se flétrit, tache de fange and withers, stained by the swamp. Dans ce cœur qui s’écœure. in this heart that has lost heart La neige aux sommets reste pure, The snow on the summits stays pure, Quoi! nulle trahison?... What? No betrayal?… Le coeur qui s’élève s’épure the heart which strives upwards aains purity, Ce deuil est sans raison. This mourning has no reason. Aux mains des anges le lys dure. and the lily endures in the hands of angels.

C’est bien la pire peine, It surely is the worst pain, Georges Maze-Sencier De ne savoir pourquoi not to know why, Sans amour et sans haine without love and without hatred, 18. Chanson bretonne 18. Breton Song Mon cœur a tant de peine! my heart has so much pain! Il était un pauv’pet gars There was a poor young lad que ses parents n’hérissaient pas. whose parents didn’t love him. Paul Verlaine (1844–1896) Sans pain, sans eau, sans jamais rien, No bread, no water, never ever anything, Il mangeait la soupe du chien. he drank the dog’s soup. 16. Fils de la Vierge 16. The Virgin’s Threads (Gossamer) Comme les fils éncelants Like the shimmering threads Il s’était tant désespéré, He was so desperate, Que l’on dit que la Vierge sème which, it is said, the Virgin sows chaq’soir il avait tant pleuré, and every evening he had cried so much, En effilant son diadème by unpicking her crown se sentant toujours le vent’creux, always feeling the empty pit in his stomach, De fleur en fleur à travers champs, of flower upon flower over the fields, qu’il n’avait plus de larm’aux yeux. that his eyes didn’t have any tears le in them. Autour de nous, mille fils d’or, all around us a thousand golden threads, Rêves fleuris de ma pensée, the flowered dreams of my thoughts, Mais un jour il dit au bon dieu But one day he asked the dear Lord Reennent mon âme enlacée, have captured my soul d’avoir pié de son p’t fieu to have pity on His lile urchin Et paralysent son essor! which, paralysed, cannot soar! qui n’voulait plus toujours souffrir, who didn’t want to suffer all the me, Et je vis en joyeux reclus, And I live as a happy recluse, et ce jour-là Dieu l’fit mourir. and that day God let him die. Car je sais que de ce rêve, for I know: if ever Si jamais le filet se lève, the veil of this dream lis, A présent l’gars est bienheureux; Now the lad is happy: Être libre, c’est n’être plus! being free will mean: being no more! c’est un ange vêtu de bleu. he’s an angel dressed in blue. Mais l’vieux chien n’veut plus manger: But the old dog has nothing to eat any more: Maurice Ganivet (1849–1884) Il n’a plus d’soupe à partager. he has no soup to share.

Deux Chansons, Op. 18 (1901) Paul Arosa (1874–c.1945) 17. Neige, coeur et lys 17. Snow, Heart and Lily La neige tombe immaculée: The snow falls, immaculate. Quatre Poèmes de Ronsard, Op. 100 (1942) Que devient la neige foulée? What becomes of the trodden snow? 19. Si… 19. If… Une fange immonde et souillée A revolng, soiled swamp. Si mille oeillets, si mille lys j’embrasse, If I embrace a thousand pinks or a thousand lilies, Entorllant mon bras tout à l’entour, twisng them all around my arms Le coeur s’ouvre pur ici-bas: The heart reveals its purity down here: Plus fort qu’un cep, qui, d’un amoureux tour, tighter than a vine which in amorous style Le coeur ne changera-t’il pas? Will the heart not change? La branche aimée en mille plis enlace; entwines its beloved branch in a thousand curves; Souvent il devient fange, hélas! Alas, it oen becomes a swamp! Si le souci ne jaunit plus ma face, if worry no longer makes my face yellow, Si le plaisir fait en moi son séjour, if pleasure stays with me Si j’aime mieux les ombres que le jour, if I prefer the shadows to the day, Ma main ne sait culver autre nom, My hand is unable to write any other name, Songe divin, cela vient de ta grâce. this is due to your favour, divine dream. Et mon papier de nulle ne s’émaille, sinon, And my paper knows no embellishment, other than De leurs beautés que je sens dedans l’âme. of her beaues, which I feel in my soul. En te suivant je volerais aux cieux: Following you I could fly to the heavens; Mais ce portrait qui nage dans mes yeux, but this image which swims in my eyes 22. Le soir qu’Amour 22. That night when Cupid Fraude toujours ma joie interrompue. always deceives my interrupted joy; vous fit en la salle descendre in the ballroom Pour danser d'arfice un beau ballet d’amour, made you dance an arul dance of love, Et tu me fuis au milieu de mon bien, and then you flee in the midst of my happiness, Vos yeux, bien qu’il fût nuit, ramenèrent le jour, your eyes were able to bring daylight back into the night, Comme un éclair qui se finit en rien, like a lightning flash ending in nothing, Tant ils surent d’éclairs par la place répandre. so bright were their rays. Ou comme au vent s’évanouit la nue. or like a cloud which vanishes in the breeze. Le ballet fut divin, qui se soulait reprendre, It was a divine dance: I watched it resume, Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585) Se rompre, se refaire et, tour dessus retour, hesitate, gather itself again and, turn aer turn, Se mêler, s’écarter, se tourner à l’entour, commingle and spread, and wind around, 20. Privilèges 20. Privileges Contre-imitant le cours du fleuve de Méandre. imitang the course of Meander's stream. Les épis sont à Cérès, Ears of corn are sacred to Ceres, Aux chèvres-pieds les forêts, forests to the cloven-footed fauns, Ores il était rond, ores long, or’ étroit, It was by turns long, narrow, somemes round À Chlore l’herbe nouvelle, the new grass to Chloris, Or’ en pointe, en triangle, en la façon qu’on voit and somemes pointed in the triangular formaon À Phoebus le vert laurier, green laurels to Phoebus, L’escadron de la grue évitant la froidure. of cranes in flight escaping the cold. À Minerve l’olivier, olive-trees to Minerva, Et le beau pin à Cybèle; and the handsome pine to Cybele, Je faux, tu ne dansais, mais ton pied voletait But I’m wrong, you did not dance: your feet floated Aux Zéphires le doux bruit, gentle sounds to the Zephyrs, Sur le haut de la terre: aussi ton corps s’était above the ground: that night À Pomone le doux fruit, sweet fruit to Pomona, Transformé pour ce soir en divine nature. your body was transformed into a divine being. L’onde aux Nymphes est sacrée, waves to the Nymphs, À Flore les belles fleurs; and beauful flowers to Flora; Mais les soucis et les pleurs but sorrow and tears Trois Chants, Op. 98 (1943) Sont sacrés à Cythèrée. are sacred to Aphrodite the Kythiran. 23. Elle était venue 23. She had descended Text by Charles Vildrac (1882–1971) A hardly tangible eroc encounter between a woman 21. Ses deux yeux 21. Her two eyes sing on the steps and a man who gazes at her with desire. Ses deux yeux bruns, deux flambeaux de ma vie, Her two brown eyes, twin lights of my life, Dessus les miens répandant leur clarté, reflecng their shine in mine, 24. La citerne des mille colonnes – Yéré Batan 24. The cistern of a thousand columns (The Basilica Cistern) Ont esclavé ma jeune liberté have imprisoned my young freedom Text by Leïla de Dampierre (1891–1955) A portrait of the underground cathedral of the Basilica Pour la damner, en prison asservie. and condemned it to serve its me. Cistern in Turkey. Do the columns in the darkness envy those outside in the sunlight? Par ses yeux bruns ma raison fut ravie, My reason has been ravished by these brown eyes; Et quelque part qu’Amour m’ait arrêté, wherever Cupid might otherwise have held me up, 25. La tortue et le lièvre – Fable 25. The Toirtoise and the Hare (fable) Je ne sus voir ailleurs d’autre beauté, I could never see any other beauty, Text by Charles Sanglier (1875–1963) A clumsy dog overhears the famous wager between the Tant ils sont seuls mon bien et mon envie. since they are my sole benefit and desire. tortoise and the hare, and waits at the finishing line to gobble up the hare. Instead he hurts his teeth on the D’autre éperon mon maître ne me point, No other master may spur me on, tortoise’s shell, prompng the hare to muse on the various Autres pensers en moi ne logent point, no other thoughts dwell in me, advantages and disadvantages of winning and losing. D’un autre feu ma Muse ne s’enflamme: no other fire ignites my muse. For German translaons visit hps://www.resonusclassics.com English translaons and summaries © Edward Rushton 2020 Sybille Diethelm, soprano in patria, Angelica in La Cenerentola Garmisch-Partenkirchen and in broadcasts He teaches piano accompaniment at the Sybille Diethelm studied singing at and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. on Swiss Radio. His teachers included Lucerne University of Applied Arts. For his the Hochschulen in Zurich and Munich Cécile Zay, Jakob Stämpfli, Horst Günter, achievements, Edward was awarded the and has degrees in Musicology and Nino Aurelio Gmünder, tenor Rudolf Piernay, László Pólgar and C.F. Meyer Foundaon prize in 2020. German Literature. She is a member Freelance lyric tenor Nino Aurelio Margreet Honig. He also has degrees Edward is also a composer whose of the ensemble of the Fesval ‘Origen’ Gmünder is a much sought-aer concert in Musicology and History from the have been performed throughout in the Grisons, where she has performed and singer. His broad repertoire University of Fribourg/Freiburg. Switzerland, Germany, the UK and in in many music-theatre producons, encompasses the tenor parts in all the Philadelphia. He has composed over thirty including world premieres. She can be major oratorios, including the St Mahew Fabienne Romer, piano works for voice and piano. heard regularly as a concert soloist. She and St John Passions, Christmas Oratorio, Fabienne Romer studied with Homero has sung Bach’s Passions in Stugart Messiah, The Creaon, The Seasons, Paulus Francesch and Daniel Fueter at the ZHdK, under Helmut Rilling and was soloist in and Elijah, as well as parts in the Italian where she graduated with disncon in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Concentus repertoire such as Puccini’s Messa di Gloria 2007. Further studies took her to Paris Musicus in the Vienna Musikverein. and Rossini’s Stabat Mater. Operac roles (with Eugen Indiz), Stockholm (with With her duo partner of over ten years, have included Tamino and Tito (Mozart), Staffan Scheja) and Munich (with Helmut Fabienne Romer, she specialises in Abu Hassan (Weber) and Eurimaco Deutsch), where she graduated in 2011. rediscovering and performing forgoen (Monteverdi). He has sung under conductors In August 2010 she was a finalist in the art songs by Swiss composers. such as Thomas Hengelbrock, Ivor Bolton, piano duo category of the ARD Compeon Hansjörg Albrecht, Howard Griffiths, in Munich and was awarded the IFP Annina Haug, mezzo-soprano Howard Arman, Georg Kallweit and Special Prize for excellent achievement. Having commenced her musical many others. Fabienne is in demand as a soloist and studies with the cello, Annina Haug chamber musician, and one of her went on to study singing at the Royal René Perler, bass-baritone special areas of interest is song Academy of Music, the Lucerne René Perler has sung with such conductors accompaniment. University of Applied Arts, and the Swiss as Andrew Parro, Marn Haselböck, Michel Opera Studio. She is regularly to be heard Corboz, Livio Pico and Hans-Christoph Edward Rushton, piano as a concert soloist, and especially loves Rademann, in many of Europe’s most Edward Rushton is in demand throughout singing , either in a duo important venues, including San Marco in Europe as a pianist specialising in chamber with piano, or with her sister, the harpist Venice, the Cathedrals of Berlin and Malaga, music and song. His discography includes Meret Eve Haug. Recent operac roles and on tour in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus albums for Resonus, BIS, Nimbus, Musiques include Lucrea in The Rape of Lucrea, and Ramallah. In recitals he has been heard Suisses, and Lyrita. In 2015 he founded Oreste in La Belle-Hélène, Idamante in in Wagner’s Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth, in the associaon ‘Besuch der Lieder’, to Idomeneo, Melanto in Il ritorno d’Ulisse the Instute in perform song recitals in private homes. More titles from Resonus Classics Johannes Brahms: Sonatas for Cello and Piano Robin Michael (cello), Daniel Tong (piano) RES10188

‘The playing is virtuosic but the sound world is subtly shaded, almost restrained, and recreates the atmosphere of an intimate recital in a tasteful 19th-century drawing room. Recommended.’ The Observer

Robert Schumann: Songs of Love and Death Simon Wallfisch (baritone), Edward Rushton (piano) RES10247

‘[...] softly gracious [...] Rushton plays with faithful sensitivity.’ The Observer This producon has been made possible by the generous support of the following individuals and instuons: Richard Adams Margrit Jacobs Alison Atkinson Cornelia Kallisch

Philipp Bachofner Aaron Merri © 2020 Resonus Limited Elisabeth Bubloz Phillip Nones è 2020 Resonus Limited Daniel Fueter Julian Rushton Recorded in Radiostudio Zurich on 26–28 January 2020 Katharina Gasser Brivio Ruth Producer, engineer & editor: Andreas Werner, Silencium Musikproduktion Executive Producer: Adam Binks Gian Peider Gianom Marc Spescha Recorded at 24-bit/96kHz resolution Moia und Ueli Grossmann Rob Stove Cover image: Portrait de Florent Schmitt (Le Pianiste, 1914–15) by (1881–1953) Are Guioulami Roderick Williams Richard Irniger Armin Zink RESONUS LIMITED – UK Chip Zoller [email protected] www.resonusclassics.com RHL Foundaon www.rhl-foundaon.org Besuch der Lieder www.besuchderlieder.net RES10265