Acknowledgments I have had the pleasure of counting John Moriarty Websites: Animal Songs Bestiaries in English, French, & German among my friends for nearly 40 years and wish to Stephen Swanson, baritone thank him for his help in preparing this recording. www.stephenswansonbaritone.com One of the joys of working for a major research David Gompper, piano institution is having colleagues who are willing http://davidgompper.com/ and able to help when my personal expertise will not suffice. Thanks to Downing Thomas for his Producer: Stephen Swanson translations of the Renard poems in this booklet. Recording Engineer: Bruce Gigax —Stephen Swanson Assistant Engineer: Reed Wheeler Recording Location: Audio Recording Ciardi, John, An Alphabestiary, Philadelphia, Studio, Bentleyville, Ohio J. B. Lippincott, 1966. Recording Dates: August 2-4, 2011 Gompper, David, The Animals, Iowa City, Liner Notes: Marilyn Swanson Edzart Music Publications, 2009. Illustrations © 2012 by Claudia McGehee Ravel, Maurice, Songs, 1896-1914, Funded in part by a grant from edited by Arbie Orenstein, New York, Dover, 1990. the Arts & Humanities Initiative Reger, Max, Sämtliche Werke, Band 33, edited by at The University of Iowa, Fritz Stein, Wiesbaden, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1959. The University of Iowa School of Music, The Songs of Michael Flanders & Donald Swann, and The University of Iowa College of London, Elm Tree Books and St George’s Press, 1977. Liberal Arts and Sciences www.albanyrecords.com TROY1365 albany records u.s. 915 broadway, albany, ny 12207 tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643 albany records u.k. box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd tel: 01539 824008 © 2012 albany records made in the usa ddd waRning: cOpyrighT subsisTs in all Recordings issued undeR This label. Stephen Swanson, baritone David Gompper, Piano 1 I. Le Paon 1 I. The Peacock Fablers have always known that every animal is a Il va sûrement se marier aujourd’hui. He will surely marry today. moral waiting to be identified. Watch any animal: Ce devait être pour hier. It was to be yesterday. En habit de gala, il était prêt. He was ready, in full evening dress. before long it will let you know something about Il n’attendait que sa fiancée. He was only waiting for his fiancee. Elle n’est pas venue. She did not come. mankind. It works the other way, too: watch any human being Elle ne peut tarder. She cannot be late. Glorieux, il se promène avec une allure de Glorious, he walks with the look of an long enough and he will let you know something about which prince indien Indian prince animal he might have been, given half a chance. et porte sur lui les riches présents d’usage. and carries on him the customary riches. L’amour avive l’éclat de ses couleurs Love enlivens the brilliance of his colors et son aigrette tremble comme une lyre. and his crest trembles like a lyre. —John Ciardi, An Alphabestiary La fiancée n’arrive pas. The fiancee does not come. Il monte au haut du toit et regarde du côté He climbs on the roof and looks toward du soleil. the sun. Il jette son cri diabolique: Léon! Léon! He releases his diabolical cry: Leon! Leon! Histoires naturelles (1906) C’est ainsi qu’il appelle sa fiancée. Thus he calls his fiancee. Words by Jules renard (1864–1910) Il ne voit rien venir et personne ne répond. He sees nothing come and hears no one reply. Music by Maurice ravel (1875–1937) Les volailles habituées ne lèvent même The fowl, blasé, do not even raise their heads. point la tête. In 1895, French author Jules Renard published the first 45 of his prose poems Histoires Elles sont lasses de l’admirer. They are tired of admiring him. naturelles (Nature Stories). The 1899 deluxe edition, illustrated by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Il redescend dans la cour, He goes back down to the courtyard, was dedicated to the great French actor Lucien Guitry, who had recited the vignettes about si sûr d’être beau so sure of his beauty animals at one of Sarah Bernhardt’s Saturday poetry readings in Paris. qu’il est incapable de rancune. that he is incapable of holding a grudge. In setting five of Renard’s poems to music, composer Maurice Ravel departed from Son mariage sera pour demain. His marriage will be tomorrow. traditional French art song style by experimenting with new methods of setting text. Ravel told Et, ne sachant que faire du reste de la journée, So, not knowing what to do with the rest of the day, Renard that he wanted to literally interpret the words through his music. Ravel and soprano il se dirige vers le perron. he moves toward the staircase. Jane Bathori premiered the song cycle at the Société Nationale de Musique in Paris on Il gravit les marches, He mounts the steps January 12, 1907. comme des marches de temple, as he would the steps of a temple, Jules Renard wrote his animal miniatures as prose poems. In order to help the listener d’un pas officiel. with an official air. follow the texts and parallel translations, the poems are presented here with line breaks that Il relève sa robe à queue toute lourde des yeux He raises his robe, his train so heavy with eyes follow the structure of Ravel’s setting. qui n’ont pu se détacher d’elle. that could not tear themselves away. Il répète encore une fois la cérémonie. He repeats yet again the ceremony. 2 II. Le Grillon 2 II. The Cricket 3 III. Le Cygne 3 III. The Swan C’est l’heure où, las d’errer, It is the hour when, tired of wandering, Il glisse sur le bassin, He glides on the pond, l’insecte nègre revient de promenade the dark insect returns from its walk comme un traîneau blanc, like a white sleigh, et répare avec soin le désordre de son domaine. and carefully repairs the disorder of his estate. de nuage en nuage. from cloud to cloud. D’abord il ratisse ses étroites allées de sable. First he rakes its narrow paths of sand. Car il n’a faim que des nuages floconneux For he is only hungry for the powdery clouds Il fait du bran de scie He makes sawdust qu’il voit naître, bouger, that he sees being born, moving, qu’il écarte au seuil de sa retraite. which he pushes to the doorway of his retreat. et se perdre dans l’eau. and disappearing into the water. Il lime la racine de cette grande herbe He files down the root of the tall grass, C’est l’un d’eux qu’il désire. It is one of them that he desires. propre à le harceler. which always bothers him. Il le vise du bec, He aims with his beak, Il se repose. He rests. et il plonge tout à coup son col vêtu de neige. and suddenly he dives, his neck dressed in snow. Puis il remonte sa minuscule montre. Then he winds his minuscule watch. Puis, tel un bras de femme sort d’une manche, Then, as a woman’s arm emerges from a sleeve, A-t-il fini? Est-elle cassée? Has he finished? Is it broken? il le retire. he withdraws. Il se repose encore un peu. He rests a little more. Il n’a rien. He has nothing. Il rentre chez lui et ferme sa porte. He goes home and closes his door. Il regarde: les nuages effarouchés ont disparu. He looks: the frightened clouds have disappeared. Longtemps il tourne sa clef dans Slowly, he turns the key in its Il ne reste qu’un instant désabusé, He remains disenchanted only an instant, la serrure délicate. delicate lock. car les nuages tardent peu à revenir, for the clouds soon return, Et il écoute: Point d’alarme dehors. and he listens: No alarm outside. et, là-bas, où meurent les ondulations de l’eau, and, below, where the undulations of the water die, Mais il ne se trouve pas en sûreté. But he does not feel safe. en voici un qui se reforme. here is one that is taking shape again. Et comme par une chaînette dont la poulie grince, And as if on a chain whose pulley creaks, Doucement, sur son léger coussin de plumes, Gently, on his light pillow of feathers, il descend jusqu’au fond de la terre. he descends into the depths of the earth. le cygne rame et s’approche… the swan creeps up and draws near… On n’entend plus rien. There is not a sound. Il s’épuise à pêcher de vains reflets, He exhausts himself fishing for empty reflections, Dans le campagne muette, In the mute countryside, et peut-être qu’il mourra victime de cette illusion, and maybe he will die, victim of this illusion, les peupliers se dressent comme des doigts en l’air the poplars stand up like fingers in the air avant d’attraper un seul morceau de nuage. before catching a single bit of cloud. et désignent la lune. and point to the moon. Mais qu’est-ce que je dis? But what am I saying? Chaque fois qu’il plonge, Each time he dives il fouille du bec la vase nourrissante he searches through the nourishing silt with his beak et ramène un ver. and brings back a worm. Il engraisse comme une oie. He is getting fat like a goose. 4 IV. Le Martin-Pêcheur 4 IV. The Kingfisher peut-être parce qu’elle s’imagine toujours maybe because she always imagines Ça n’a pas mordu, ce soir, They’re not biting this evening, qu’on se moque de sa taille, that they are mocking her size, mais je rapporte une rare émotion.