Natalie Dessay Philippe Cassard

Natalie Dessay
Philippe Cassard
Friday 2 October 2015 7.30pm, Hall
Schubert
Erlkönig; Am Bach im Frühling; Suleika I;
Nacht und Traüme
Geheimes; Rastlose Liebe; Nachtviolen;
Gretchen am Spinnrade
Marc Ribes/Erato
Mendelssohn
Suleika; Die Liebende schreibt; Nachtgesang;
Hexenlied
interval 20 minutes
Duparc
Extase; Elégie; L’invitation au voyage; Au pays
où se fait la guerre
Liszt
Sonetto del Petrarca No 104 (piano solo)
Liszt Oh! quand je dors
Fauré Dans les ruines d’une abbaye; L’absent
Bizet Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe
Liszt Comment, disaient-ils
Natalie Dessay soprano
Philippe Cassard piano
The audience is requested to applaud only
between groups of songs.
At the request of the artists, the house lights will
be lower than usual tonight
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Welcome
Welcome to this evening’s concert. The
French soprano Natalie Dessay needs no
introduction: her versatility as a singer and
actress have made her a sensation in the
great opera houses of the world. Now,
increasingly, she is turning her attention to
an altogether more intimate art form, that
of song. Her recital tonight, for which she
is joined by Philippe Cassard, is typically
adventurous, with a mix of the well-known
and the unusual, encompassing French
mélodie and German Lieder.
We begin with Schubert, and a selection
of songs that offers a glimpse into his
unique sound-world. His genius lies not
only in an ability to create works of intense
drama when setting the finest poets –
Goethe among them – but also in the
way he elevates lesser poems, revealing
their essence through musical means.
Mendelssohn himself met Goethe through
his teacher and became a firm friend,
their 60-year age gap notwithstanding.
Mendelssohn’s songs have tended to be
overshadowed by his achievements in other
genres, so it’s fascinating to hear them
alongside those of Schubert.
Henri Duparc bridges the divide between
France and Germany: he was a great
admirer of the Lied tradition of Schubert
and Schumann, but the finished result,
revealed in his tiny but precious oeuvre,
couldn’t sound more French. The last of
Duparc’s songs performed by Natalie
Dessay this evening, ‘Au pays où se fait
la guerre’, is by Victor Hugo, and it is he
who forms the link between composers as
temperamentally different as Liszt, Fauré
and Bizet in tonight’s final bouquet of songs.
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The enduring allure of the art song
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) composed his
Opp 1 and 2, ‘Erlkönig’ (1815) and ‘Gretchen
am Spinnrade’ (1814), when he was in his teens,
but they still rank among the most famous of
his hundreds of Lieder. Both set Goethe. In
the ballad ‘Erlkönig’, in which a father tries
to reassure his feverish child that there is no
such thing as an Erl King, Schubert musically
delineates the characters without ever letting
the listener forget that they are riding through
a forest at night. The drama of that song’s
ending is matched by the climax of Gretchen’s
song, when she breaks off from her spinning
to fantasise about Faust’s kiss. Despite being
catalogued as Op 5, ‘Rastlose Liebe was
written between ‘Gretchen’ and ‘Erlkönig’, in
May 1815. Its tumultuous piano accompaniment
and breathless vocal melody aptly conveys
the excitement of the young lovers as they rush
through meteorological and emotional storms.
There are two other Goethe poems in this group;
‘Geheimes’ (March 1821) is, in Schubert’s hands,
a playful, even slightly saucy, take on making
eyes at someone. His ‘Suleika’, composed in the
same month, in comparison to Mendelssohn’s
rather fervid setting explores more languid
expressions of desire.
The other Schubert songs in the programme
feature poets who were all based in the
composer’s hometown of Vienna. Franz von
Schober, a charming dilettante and great
supporter of the composer (he was the dedicatee
of ‘Geheimes’ and ‘Suleika’), and Johann
Mayrhofer, a more saturnine character, were
close friends. Schober’s ‘Am Bach im Frühling’
(1816) is an early attempt at what would become
familiar Schubertian themes: a brook breaks
free from its icy covering; the poet finds some
consolation in a small blue flower. ‘Nachtviolen’
(1822) was taken from Mayrhofer’s Heliopolis
cycle of poems on the nature of art and the
artist’s role in society. Though he set other, darker
Heliopolis poems, Schubert suppressed the more
melancholic aspects of ‘Nachtviolen’ through
careful editing of the poem and by devising a
song that stays in the upper register of voice and
piano almost throughout, like the flower-heads of
the long- and slender-stemmed violet.
Schubert and one of his favourite singercollaborators, Johann Michael Vogl, performed
at a salon hosted by Viennese poet Matthäus
von Collin in 1820. Subsequently Schubert set
Collin’s ballad ‘Der Zwerg’ and several of his
lyric poems, including ‘Nacht und Träume’
(1823). Scholar Susan Youens describes the song
as ‘a compendium of Romanticism’s favourite
emblems compacted into a mere 40 words of
poetry and 29 bars of music’. Compact it may
be, but from the singer’s stratospheric entrance
to the magical harmonic transformations
delighting in dreams, this is a jewel among
Schubert’s Lieder.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) composed
songs throughout his career: the selection
tonight ranges from 1827, when he was just
16 (‘Hexenlied’), through the 1830s (‘Die
Liebende schreibt’, 1831, published 1850,
and ‘Suleika’ of 1837), to after his death
(‘Nachtgesang’, first drafted in the late 1830s,
was only published posthumously). He favoured
relatively straightforward, singable melodies
and strophic forms (in which the same music is
3
When Franz Liszt introduced the French tenor
Adolphe Nourrit to Schubert’s ‘Erlkönig’ in
1837 he did not bother with the words: instead,
he taught him the melody and explained the
story. Apparently Nourrit captured the spirit of
Goethe’s poem well. Eventually translations were
provided, and songs by Mendelssohn, Schubert
and Schumann became popular in France.
While composers such as Georges Bizet, Henri
Duparc and Gabriel Fauré chose French poets
and wrote music that seems indelibly French,
as tonight’s programme shows, the later 19thcentury tradition of the mélodie also drew deeply
on German Lieder.
Programme notes
Erl Kings and fleeting strangers
4
used for different verses). This was in contrast
to the style of his slightly older contemporary
Franz Schubert. It was, though, in keeping with
the approach of Mendelssohn’s Berlin-based
teacher, Carl Friedrich Zelter, who happened
to be the preferred song composer of the great
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Zelter introduced
his student to Goethe in Weimar and the young
composer and elder man of letters became
firm friends. However, Mendelssohn set few
of Goethe’s poems as songs. The two heard
tonight hope for signs of affection from a distant
beloved – a kiss, a sigh. Goethe’s sonnet Die
Liebende schreibt (1807) was said to convey the
then 58-year-old poet’s obsession with Minna
Herzlieb, the young ward of a friend. ‘Suleika’
was taken from the West-Östlicher Divan (1819),
an orientalist collection inspired by the 14thcentury Persian poet Hafiz. Mendelssohn would
have thought ‘Suleika’ was written by Goethe,
but it was actually by his muse Marianne von
Willemer (her authorship was only revealed after
her death). The strophic setting, with hurrying
repeated chords in the piano and arching, near
breathless vocal melody, conveys the urgency of
desire.
Austro-German and French song traditions
were brought together in the small but perfectly
formed oeuvre of Paris-born Henri Duparc
(1848–1933). Having studied with César Franck,
Duparc came to admire Bach, Beethoven,
Schubert and Schumann; and, being a musician
in the second half of the 19th century, he could
hardly help falling under the spell of Richard
Wagner. ‘Chanson triste’ and ‘Soupir’ were the
only songs Duparc wished to preserve from
his first published collection (1868). ‘Chanson
triste’ sets a poem by Jean Lahor, a pseudonym
of French physician and symbolist poet Henri
Cazalis (1840–1909). Duparc’s music seems
at once static and mobile, hovering between
desire and fulfilment. The undulating piano
accompaniment takes an unexpected harmonic
course beneath the voice’s long-spun melodies.
‘Soupir’, a setting of an early poem by Sully
Prudhomme (1839–1907), is less labile, the song’s
repeated rhythms reflecting the theme of waiting,
patiently and probably pointlessly, for love.
The ebb and flow of this music was carefully
calibrated by the composer, who annotated his
scores with detailed instructions on expression,
dynamics, and fluctuations in tempo.
‘Nachtgesang’ was originally written in the late
1830s as one of many pieces Mendelssohn
composed for the Leipzig Liedertafel, a society
devoted to the performance of unaccompanied
part-songs. Adolf Wendler was a popular poet
among Liedertafel composers. Mendelssohn’s
‘Nachtgesang’, for male chorus, was published
posthumously, in 1856. Its popularity was
indicated by an arrangement for solo voice
being released just 14 months later. The serenity
of ‘Nachtgesang’ contrasts with Mendelssohn’s
setting of Ludwig Hölty’s ‘Hexenlied’, the subtitle
of which is ‘Andres Maienlied’ (‘Another kind of
May song’). It depicts the witches’ sabbath on
Walpurgisnacht. Even with the limited resources
of the piano Mendelssohn demonstrates his
ability to conjure supernatural tomfoolery, from
dancing witches and devils to dragons delivering
butter and eggs. It was a skill also evident in his
overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826)
and his setting of a scene from Goethe’s Faust,
Die erste Walpurgisnacht (1832).
Duparc returned to Lahor’s poetry in 1874, with
‘Extase’. The song reveals Duparc’s intoxication
by Wagner, whose music he had first heard in
Munich five years earlier (he was introduced
to the composer himself soon afterwards by
Liszt in Weimar). The lengthy piano interlude
before the final line of the poem is saturated
with Wagnerian harmonies. Duparc makes the
Tristan-like love–death theme even clearer by
repeating the second line of the poem at the
end of his song, so that it reads: ‘Upon your pale
breast my heart sleeps / in a drowsiness as soft
as death’. ‘Elégie’, also composed in 1874, sets a
translation of Thomas Moore’s poem written to
console the sweetheart of Irish nationalist Robert
Emmet, who had been hanged for treason. Its
harmonies also bear Wagner’s imprint; a falling
motif in the piano is ever-present, suggesting an
unshakeable melancholy.
Two songs composed in 1870 indicate Duparc’s
emotional and aesthetic range. ‘L’invitation au
Duparc, according to Graham Johnson, was ‘a
prince among song composers’. The description
is fitting both in terms of the quality of his
music and because he produced so little: he
abandoned his attempts at symphonic poems
and opera and retracted several compositions,
acknowledging only 13 songs. A neurasthenic
condition caused Duparc to stop writing music
altogether in 1885. For the rest of his days he
lived quietly in south-west France and, later,
Switzerland, drawing and painting until he went
blind and increasingly dedicating himself to his
religious beliefs.
be it introducing French singers to Schubert, or
Duparc to Wagner. He also travelled extensively
himself. In 1835 he eloped with his married
lover, Countess Marie d’Agoult, to Switzerland,
thereby beginning his own years of wandering,
or Années de pèlerinage (‘Years of Pilgrimage’) –
the collective title of three suites for solo piano on
which he worked over several years. The second
‘year’ is devoted to Italy and includes three
‘Sonetti del Petrarca’: song-settings of Petrarch
sonnets recast for piano which Liszt composed
while he and Marie (and their three young
children) were spending the summer of 1838 in
the small fishing village of San Rossore. Sonnet
104 takes as its basis ‘Pace non trove’, which
explores the lover’s confusion – he burns yet is
icy; flies and falls; weeps and laughs. Liszt’s music
is similarly mercurial, shifting between agitated
virtuoso passagework and reflective lyricism.
Programme notes
voyage’ was taken from Charles Baudelaire’s
1857 collection Les fleurs du mal. There is an
unsettling restlessness to the verses promising the
satisfaction of desires, while Duparc’s treatment
of the poem’s famous refrain, a promise of order
and beauty – ‘Luxe, calme et volupté’ – attains a
disconcerting stillness. By contrast, his setting of
Théophile Gautier’s ballade ‘Au pays où se fait
la guerre’, which was originally intended for an
opera, Roussalka, is more direct and simple: the
ballad of a lady in a tower, awaiting the return
of her lover.
5
Liszt’s ventures into song were further indications
of his cosmopolitanism; he composed to texts in
Italian, German and French. These two Hugo
settings were composed in 1842, when Liszt was
at the height of his renown as a virtuoso, and in
the last throes of his relationship with Marie It
is all too tempting to read Hugo’s reference to
Duparc may not have published many songs
Petrarch and Laura in ‘Oh! quand je dors’ as a
but the strength of his influence can be felt in
parallel to Liszt and his lover. Voice and piano
‘L’absent’ (1871) by Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
parts, in their now rarely heard original versions,
which uses the repetition of simple material to
were impressively elaborate – in ‘Comment,
evoke lassitude. Victor Hugo wrote the poem
disaient-ils’ not only did the piano mimic the
in 1853, at the start of his 15 years of exile in
strumming of a guitar, but the singer was asked
the Channel Islands in the aftermath of the
to reach a high C in the cadenza. Liszt revised
Bonapartist coup d’état. By the time Fauré
both songs at the end of the 1840s, making the
composed his song Hugo had returned to France piano parts less overbearing to allow the singer
and the composer had fled Paris to escape
to shine.
the Commune. Quite who is ‘the absent one’
– Fauré’s invented title – is ambiguous, though
Politics, love, loss and the exotic – the subjects
the grief caused is clear: the word ‘L’absent’
covered in tonight’s last group of songs signal
provokes a high cry and a briefly impassioned
the scale and breadth of Hugo’s poetic world.
interlude in the piano – the wildest moment in the Indeed, although Bizet (1838–75) cut four
song. The earlier ‘Dans les ruines d’une abbaye’, verses from Hugo’s ‘Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe’,
Op 2 No 1 (c1865) is a more winsome expression his 1867 song remains a substantial, sinuous
of conjugal love.
showpiece. As in many musical evocations of the
mythical East, the repeated rhythms and wordless
Hungarian pianist-composer Franz Liszt
vocalise combine to mesmeric effect. Who could
(1811–86) was hugely influential in bringing
forget this Arabian hostess?
musicians together across national borders,
Programme note © Laura Tunbridge
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Erlkönig, D328
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er fasst ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
Who rides so late through the night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy in his arms;
he holds him safely, he keeps him warm.
‘Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein
Gesicht?’ –
‘Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron’ und Schweif?’
‘Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.’
‘My son, why do you hide your face in fear?’
‘Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir;
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.’
‘Sweet child, come with me.
I’ll play wonderful games with you.
Many a pretty flower grows on the shore;
my mother has many a golden robe.’
‘Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?’
‘Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind:
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.’
‘Father, father, do you not hear
what the Erlking softly promises me?’
‘Calm, be calm, my child:
the wind is rustling in the withered leaves.’
‘Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.’
‘Won’t you come with me, my fine lad?
My daughters shall wait upon you;
my daughters lead the nightly dance,
and will rock you, and dance, and sing you
to sleep.’
‘Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?’
‘Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.’
‘Father, father, can you not see
Erlking’s daughters there in the darkness?’
‘My son, my son, I can see clearly:
it is the old grey willows gleaming.’
‘Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.’
‘Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fasst er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!’
‘I love you, your fair form allures me,
and if you don’t come willingly, I’ll use force.’
‘Father, father, now he’s seizing me!
The Erlking has hurt me!’
Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Müh’ und Not:
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
The father shudders, he rides swiftly,
he holds the moaning child in his arms;
with one last effort he reaches home;
the child lay dead in his arms.
‘Father, can you not see the Erlking?
The Erlking with his crown and tail?’
‘My son, it is a streak of mist.’
6
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
Am Bach im Frühling, D361
Du brachst sie nun, die kalte Rinde,
Und rieselst froh und frei dahin.
Die Lüfte wehen wieder linde,
Und Moos und Gras wird neu und grün.
Now you have broken the frozen crust,
and ripple along, free and happy;
the breezes blow mild again,
moss and grass are fresh and green.
Allein, mit traurigem Gemüte
Tret’ ich wie sonst zu deiner Flut.
Alone, with sorrowful spirit,
I approach your waters as before;
the flowering of the whole earth
does not gladden my heart.
Hier treiben immer gleiche Winde,
Kein Hoffen kommt in meinem Sinn,
Als dass ich hier ein Blümchen finde:
Blau, wie sie der Erinn’rung blühn.
Here the same winds forever blow,
no hope cheers my spirit,
save that I find a flower here,
blue, as the flowers of remembrance.
Texts
Der Erde allgemeine Blüte
Kommt meinem Herzen nicht zu gut.
Franz Adolf Friedrich von Schober (1796–1882)
Suleika I, D720
Was bedeutet die Bewegung?
Bringt der Ost mir frohe Kunde?
Seiner Schwingen frische Regung
Kühlt des Herzens tiefe Wunde.
What does this stirring portend?
Is the east wind bringing me joyful tidings?
The refreshing motion of its wings
cools the heart’s deep wound.
Kosend spielt er mit dem Staube,
Jagt ihn auf in leichten Wölkchen,
Treibt zur sichern Rebenlaube
Der Insekten frohes Völkchen.
It plays caressingly with the dust,
throwing it up in light clouds,
and drives the happy swarm of insects
to the safety of the vine-leaves.
Lindert sanft der Sonne Glühen,
Kühlt auch mir die heissen Wangen,
Küsst die Reben noch im Fliehen,
Die auf Feld und Hügel prangen.
It gently tempers the burning heat of the sun,
and cools my hot cheeks;
even as it flies it kisses the vines
that adorn the fields and hillsides.
Und mir bringt sein leises Flüstern
Von dem Freunde tausend Grüsse;
Eh’ noch diese Hügel düstern,
Grüssen mich wohl tausend Küsse.
And its soft whispering brings me
a thousand greetings from my beloved;
before these hills grow dark
I shall be greeted by a thousand kisses.
Und so kannst du weiter ziehen!
Diene Freunden und Betrübten.
Dort wo hohe Mauern glühen,
Dort find’ ich bald den Vielgeliebten.
Now you may pass on,
and serve the happy and the sad;
there, where high walls glow,
I shall soon find my dearly beloved.
Ach, die wahre Herzenskunde,
Liebeshauch, erfrischtes Leben
Wird mir nur aus seinem Munde,
Kann mir nur sein Athem geben.
Ah, the true message of the heart,
the breath of love, renewed life
will come to me only from his lips,
can be given to me only by his breath.
Marianne von Willemer (1784–1860)
Nacht und Träume, D827
Heil’ge Nacht, du sinkest nieder;
Nieder wallen auch die Träume
Wie dein Mondlicht durch die Räume,
Durch der Menschen stille Brust.
Die belauschen sie mit Lust;
Rufen, wenn der Tag erwacht:
Kehre wieder, heil’ge Nacht!
Holde Träume, kehret wieder!
Holy night, you sink down;
dreams, too, float down,
like your moonlight through space,
through the silent hearts of men.
They listen with delight,
crying out when day awakes:
come back, holy night!
Fair dreams, return!
7
Matthäus Kasimir von Collin (1779–1824)
Geheimes, D719
Über meines Liebchens Äugeln
Stehn verwundert alle Leute;
Ich, der Wissende, dagegen,
Weiss recht gut, was das bedeute.
Everyone is astonished
at the eyes my sweetheart makes;
but I, who understand,
know very well what they mean.
Denn es heisst: ich liebe diesen
Und nicht etwa den und jenen.
Lasset nur, ihr guten Leute,
Euer Wundern, euer Sehnen!
For they are saying: he is the one I love,
not this one or that one.
So, good people,
cease your wondering and your longing!
Ja, mit ungeheuren Mächten
Blicket sie wohl in die Runde;
Doch sie sucht nur zu verkünden
Ihm die nächste süsse Stunde.
Indeed, she may well look about her
with a mightily powerful eye,
but she seeks only to give him a foretaste
of the next sweet hour.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Rastlose Liebe, D138
Dem Schnee, dem Regen,
Dem Wind entgegen,
Im Dampf der Klüfte
Durch Nebeldüfte,
Immer zu! Immer zu!
Ohne Rast und Ruh!
Into the snow, the rain,
and the wind,
through steamy ravines,
through mists,
onwards, ever onwards!
Without respite!
Lieber durch Leiden
Wollt ich mich schlagen,
Als so viel Freuden
Des Lebens ertragen.
I would sooner fight my way
through suffering
than endure so much
of life’s joy.
Alle das Neigen
Von Herzen zu Herzen,
Ach, wie so eigen
Schaffet es Schmerzen!
This affection
of one heart for another,
ah, how strangely
it creates pain!
Wie soll ich fliehen?
Wälderwärts ziehen?
Alles, alles vergebens!
Krone des Lebens,
Glück ohne Ruh,
Liebe, bist du!
How shall I flee?
Into the forest?
It is all in vain!
Crown of life,
happiness without peace –
this, O love, is you!
8
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Nachtviolen, D752
Nachtviolen, Nachtviolen!
Dunkle Augen, seelenvolle,
Selig ist es, sich versenken
In dem samtnen Blau.
Dame’s violets,
dark, soulful eyes,
it is blissful to immerse myself
in your velvety blue.
Grüne Blätter streben freudig
Euch zu hellen, euch zu schmücken;
Doch ihr blicket ernst und schweigend
In die laue Frühlingsluft.
Green leaves strive joyously
to brighten you, to adorn you;
but you gaze, solemn and silent,
into the mild spring air.
With sublime shafts of melancholy
you have pierced my faithful heart,
and now, in silent nights,
our sacred union blossoms.
Texts
Mit erhabnen Wehmutsstrahlen
Trafet ihr mein treues Herz,
Und nun blüht in stummen Nächten
Fort die heilige Verbindung.
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
My peace is gone,
my heart is heavy,
I shall never, never again
find peace.
Wo ich ihn nicht hab
Ist mir das Grab,
Die ganze Welt
Ist mir vergällt.
Wherever he is not with me
is my grave,
the whole world
is turned to gall.
Mein armer Kopf
Ist mir verrückt,
Mein armer Sinn
Ist mir zerstückt.
My poor head
is crazed,
my poor mind
is shattered.
Nach ihm nur schau ich
Zum Fenster hinaus,
Nach ihm nur geh ich
Aus dem Haus.
I look out of the window
only to see him,
I leave the house
only to seek him.
Sein hoher Gang,
Sein’ edle Gestalt,
Seine Mundes Lächeln,
Seiner Augen Gewalt,
His fine gait,
his noble form,
the smile of his lips,
the power of his eyes.
Und seiner Rede
Zauberfluss,
Sein Händedruck,
Und ach, sein Kuss!
And the magic flow
of his words,
the pressure of his hand
and, ah, his kiss!
Mein Busen drängt sich
Nach ihm hin.
Ach dürft ich fassen
Und halten ihn,
My bosom yearns
for him.
Ah, if only I could grasp him
and hold him,
Und küssen ihn,
So wie ich wollt,
An seinen Küssen
Vergehen sollt!
and kiss him
as I would like,
I should die
from his kisses!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Translations © Richard Wigmore
9
Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (1787–1836)
10
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47)
Suleika, Op 34 No 4
Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen,
West, wie sehr ich dich beneide:
Denn du kannst ihm Kunde bringen
Was ich in der Trennung leide!
Ah, West Wind, how I envy you
your moist pinions:
for you can bring him word
of what I suffer away from him!
Die Bewegung deiner Flügel
Weckt im Busen stilles Sehnen;
Blumen, Augen, Wald und Hügel
Stehn bei deinem Hauch in Tränen.
The movement of your wings
wakes silent longing in my heart;
flowers, eyes, woods and hills
dissolve in tears where you blow.
Doch dein mildes sanftes Wehen
Kühlt die wunden Augenlider;
Ach, für Leid müsst’ ich vergehen,
Hofft’ ich nicht zu sehn ihn wieder.
Yet your mild, gentle breeze
cools my sore eyelids;
ah, I’d surely die of grief,
did I not hope to see him again.
Eile denn zu meinem Lieben,
Spreche sanft zu seinem Herzen;
Doch vermeid’ ihn zu betrüben
Und verbirg ihm meine Schmerzen.
Hurry, then, to my beloved,
whisper softly to his heart;
take care, though, not to sadden him,
and hide from him my anguish.
Sag’ ihm, aber sag’s bescheiden:
Seine Liebe sei mein Leben,
Freudiges Gefühl von beiden
Wird mir seine Nähe geben.
Tell him, but tell him humbly:
that his love is my life,
that his presence here will fill me
with happiness in both.
Marianne von Willemer
Translation © Richard Stokes
Die Liebende schreibt, Op 86 No 3
Ein Blick von deinen Augen in die meinen,
Ein Kuss von deinem Mund auf meinem Munde,
Wer davon hat, wie ich, gewisse Kunde,
Mag dem was anders wohl erfreulich scheinen?
One glance from your eyes into mine,
one kiss from your lips onto my lips,
if one, as I, has that safe knowledge,
what can afford greater happiness?
Entfernt von dir, entfremdet von den Meinen,
Führ’ ich stets die Gedanken in die Runde
Und immer treffen sie auf jene Stunde,
Die einzige: da fang’ ich an zu weinen.
Distant from you, estranged from all kin
my thoughts circle incessantly,
ever alighting upon that hour,
that single hour; and I begin to weep.
Die Träne trocknet wieder unversehens:
Er liebt ja, denk’ ich, her, in diese Stille,
O solltest du nicht in die Ferne reichen?
My tears then dry again unbidden:
His love, methinks, it reaches into my seclusion,
should not mine as well venture so far?
Vernimm das Lispeln dieses Liebewehens;
Mein einzig Glück auf Erden ist dein Wille,
Dein freundlicher zu mir; gib mir ein Zeichen!
Hear then the lisps of this tormented love;
my only happiness on earth is what you will
so kindly unto me: give me a sign!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Translation © Bettina Reinke-Welsh
Blumen, die zu Glanz und Pracht
Früh des Morgens Ruf erweckte,
Als sie Perlenthau bedeckte,
Schlafen längst in stiller Nacht.
Flowers woken early to splendour and glory
by the call of the morning,
when pearly dew bedecked them,
have long been asleep in the peaceful night.
Doch auf ihrer Blüthenbahn
Sendet dankbar noch die Erde,
Von dem grossen Opferherde
Balsamdüfte himmelan.
And yet from its flowery paths
the thankful earth still sends
healing breezes heavenwards
from its great sacrificial altar.
Und sie steigen leicht und rein
Durch des Äthers blaue Meere,
Aufwärts zu dem Sternenheere,
Das uns glänzt im ew’gen Schein.
And they ascend, light and pure,
through the blue swell of the ether,
upwards to the starry vault
whose everlasting light shines down on us.
Nach, euch nach! Entflieht noch nicht!
Leiht uns Schwingen, Blumendüfte,
Tragt uns, milde Himmelslüfte,
Aufwärts aus der Nacht zum Licht.
We shall follow you! Do not vanish yet!
Lend us wings, o flowery perfumes,
bear us upwards, gentle breezes of heaven,
from night’s darkness into the light.
Adolf Wendler
Translation © Susannah Howe
Hexenlied, Op 8 No 8
Die Schwalbe fliegt,
Der Frühling siegt,
Und spendet uns Blumen zum Kranze!
Bald huschen wir
Leis’ aus der Tür,
Und fliegen zum prächtigen Tanze!
Swallows are flying,
spring’s triumphant,
dispensing flowers for wreaths!
Soon we’ll flit
quietly outside,
and fly to the splendid dance!
Ein schwarzer Bock,
Ein Besenstock,
Die Ofengabel, der Wocken,
Reisst uns geschwind,
Wie Blitz und Wind,
Durch sausende Lüfte zum Brocken!
A black goat,
a broomstick,
the furnace rake, the distaff
whisks us on our way,
like lightning and wind,
through whistling gales to the Brocken!
Um Beelzebub
Tanzt unser Trupp
Und küsst ihm die kralligen Hände!
Ein Geisterschwarm
Fasst uns beim Arm
Und schwinget im Tanzen die Brände!
Our coven dances
round Beelzebub
and kisses his claw-like hands;
a ghostly throng
seize our arms,
waving firebrands as they dance!
Und Beelzebub
Verheisst dem Trupp
Der Tanzenden Gaben auf Gaben:
Sie sollen schön
In Seide geh’n
Und Töpfe voll Goldes sich graben!
And Beelzebub
pledges the throng
of dancers gift after gift;
they shall be dressed
in beautiful silk
and dig themselves pots full of gold!
Texts
In the still of the night the meadow lies
lost in slumber on a paternal breast
as treetops gently bend and bow,
dreaming of the pleasures of the day.
11
Nachtgesang, WoO21
Schlummernd an des Vaters Brust
Ruht die Flur in nächt’gem Schweigen,
Wie sich leis’ die Wipfel neigen,
Träumend von des Tages Lust.
Ein Feuerdrach’
Umflieget das Dach,
Und bringet uns Butter und Eier.
Die Nachbarn dann seh’n
Die Funken weh’n,
Und schlagen ein Kreuz vor dem Feuer.
A fiery dragon
flies round the roof
and brings us butter and eggs.
The neighbours catch sight
of the flying sparks,
and cross themselves for fear of the fire.
Die Schwalbe fliegt,
Der Frühling siegt,
Die Blumen erblühen zum Kranze!
Bald huschen wir
Leis’ aus der Tür,
Juchheissa zum prächtigen Tanze!
Swallows are flying,
spring’s triumphant,
flowers are blooming for wreaths.
Soon we’ll flit
quietly outside –
tally-ho to the splendid dance!
Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty (1748–76)
Translation © Richard Stokes
interval 20 minutes
Henri Duparc (1848–1933)
Extase
Sur un lys pâle mon cœur dort
D’un sommeil doux comme la mort …
Mort exquise, mort parfumée
Du souffle de la bien-aimée …
Sur ton sein pâle mon cœur dort
D’un sommeil doux comme la mort …
Upon a pale lily my heart sleeps
in a drowsiness as soft as death …
an exquisite death, a death perfumed
by the breath of the beloved …
Upon your pale breast my heart sleeps
in a drowsiness as soft as death …
Henri Cazalis (1840–1909)
Elégie
Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom ! Qu’il dorme
dans l’ombre,
Où froide et sans honneur repose sa dépouille.
Muettes, tristes, glacées, tombent nos larmes,
Comme la rosée de la nuit, qui sur sa tête
humecte la gazon;
Mais la rosée de la nuit, bien qu’elle pleure en
silence,
Fera briller la verdure sur sa couche
Et nos larmes, en secret répandues,
Conserveront sa mémoire fraîche et verte dans
nos cœurs.
12
English text by Thomas Moore (1779–1852);
translator unknown
Ah, murmur not his name! Let it sleep in the
darkness
where, cold and unhonoured, his remains are
laid.
Silent, sad, frozen, our tears drop like the
night-time dew
which moistens the turf o’er his head.
But the night dew, though it weeps in silence,
will make bright the green above his bed;
and our tears, secretly shed,
will keep his memory fresh and green in our
hearts.
My child, my sister,
think of the sweetness
of going to live there together.
To love at leisure;
to love and to die
in the land which resembles you.
The watery suns
of those hazy skies
have, for me, the charms,
so mysterious,
of your treacherous eyes,
shining through their tears.
Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.
There, all is naught but order and beauty,
comfort, peace and pleasure.
Vois sur ces canaux
Dormir ces vaisseaux
Dont l’humeur est vagabonde;
C’est pour assouvir
Ton moindre désir
Qu’ils viennent du bout du monde.
Les soleils couchants
Revêtent les champs,
Les canaux, la ville entière
D’hyacinthe et d’or;
Le monde s’endort
Dans une chaude lumière.
See, on those waterways,
how the ships slumber,
though wanderers by nature;
it is to satisfy
your smallest desire
that they come from the ends of the earth.
The setting suns
clothe the fields,
the waters, all the town,
in hyacinth and gold;
the world falls asleep
in a warm light.
Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.
There, all is naught but order and beauty,
comfort, peace and pleasure.
Texts
L’invitation au voyage
Mon enfant, ma sœur,
Songe à la douceur
D’aller là-bas vivre ensemble,
Aimer à loisir,
Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble!
Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes.
Au pays où se fait la guerre
Au pays où se fait la guerre
Mon bel ami s’en est allé;
Il semble à mon cœur désolé
Qu’il ne reste que moi sur terre!
En partant, au baiser d’adieu,
Il m’a pris mon âme à ma bouche.
Qui le tient si longtemps, mon Dieu?
Voilà le soleil qui se couche,
Et moi, toute seule en ma tour,
J’attends encore son retour.
To the country where they are at war
my dear love has departed.
It seems to my desolate heart
that no-one is left on earth but myself.
On leaving, with a farewell kiss,
he took my soul from my lips …
Who keeps him so long, dear God?
Now the sun is setting,
and I, all alone in my tower,
still await his return.
Les pigeons sur le toit roucoulent,
Roucoulent amoureusement;
Avec un son triste et charmant
Les eaux sous les grands saules coulent.
Je me sens tout près de pleurer;
Mon cœur comme un lis plein s’épanche,
Et je n’ose plus espérer.
The doves on the roof are cooing,
cooing amorously;
with a sad and charming sound
the waters under the big willows are flowing.
I feel near to tears.
My heart unfolds like a full-blown lily,
and I dare hope no longer.
13
Charles Baudelaire (1821–67)
Voici briller la lune blanche,
Et moi, toute seule en ma tour,
J’attends encore son retour.
Now the pale moon is shining,
and I, all alone in my tower,
still await his return.
Quelqu’un monte à grands pas la rampe:
Serait-ce lui, mon doux amant?
Ce n’est pas lui, mais seulement
Mon petit page avec ma lampe.
Vents du soir, volez, dites-lui
Qu’il est ma pensée et mon rêve,
Toute ma joie et mon ennui.
Voici que l’aurore se lève,
Et moi, toute seule en ma tour,
J’attends encore son retour.
Someone climbs the stairs with big strides:
could it be he, my sweet love?
It is not he, but only
my little page with my lamp …
evening winds, fly, tell him
that he is my thought and my dream,
all my joy and my anxiety.
Now the dawn is rising.
and I, all alone in my tower,
still await his return.
Théophile Gautier (1811–72)
Franz Liszt (1811–86)
Oh! quand je dors, S282
Oh! quand je dors, viens auprès de ma couche,
comme à Pétrarque apparaissait Laura,
Et qu’en passant ton haleine me touche …
Soudain ma bouche s’entrouvrira.
While I sleep, O, come by my bed
as Laura came to Petrarch,
and in passing, let me feel your breath;
then my lips will part.
Sur mon front morne où peut-être s’achève
Un songe noir qui trop longtemps dura,
Que ton regard comme un astre se lève …
Et soudain mon rêve rayonnera.
On my sad brow, which may reveal
that some black thought has lingered,
let your gaze alight like a rising star;
and my dream will be transfigured.
Puis sur ma lèvre où voltige une flamme,
Éclair d’amour que Dieu même épura,
Pose un baiser, et d’ange deviens femme …
Soudain mon âme s’éveillera.
Then, on my lips, aflame
with the light of love God himself made pure,
place a kiss; no longer angel, now a woman;
and my soul will awaken.
Victor Hugo (1802–85)
Translations © Hyperion Records
14
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Dans les ruines d’une abbaye, Op 2 No 1
Seuls, tous deux, ravis, chantants,
Comme on s’aime!
Comme on cueille le printemps
Que Dieu sème.
Alone, together, enraptured, singing!
How we love each other!
How we reap the springtime
that God sows.
Quels rires étincelants
Dans ces ombres,
Jadis pleines de fronts blancs,
De cœurs sombres!
What sparkling laughter
in these shadows
once full of pale faces
and sombre hearts!
On est tout frais mariés.
On s’envoie
Les charmants cris variés
De la joie!
We are newly married.
We send each other
charming and varied
cries of joy.
Fresh echoes mingling with
the shivering wind!
Gaiety that the black convent
Heightens!
On effeuille des jasmins
Sur la pierre.
Où l’abbesse joint les mains
En prière.
We pluck the jasmine flowers
on the stone
where the abbess joins her hands
in prayer.
Les tombeaux, de croix marqués,
Font partie
De ces jeux, un peu piqués
Par l’ortie.
The tombs, marked by crosses,
are a part of these games,
and so are one or two
stings from nettles.
On se cherche, on se poursuit,
On sent croître
Ton aube, Amour, dans la nuit
Du vieux cloître.
We seek each other, chase each other,
we feel your dawn
grow in the night, O love,
of the old cloister.
On s’en va se becquetant,
On s’adore,
On s’embrasse à chaque instant,
Puis encore,
On we go, kissing and cuddling,
adoring one another,
embracing each other every moment,
then again,
Sous les piliers, les arceaux,
Et les marbres,
C’est l’histoire des oiseaux
Dans les arbres.
beneath the pillars, beneath the vault,
and the marble;
just like all the birds
in the trees.
Texts
Frais échos mêlés
Au vent qui frissonne.
Gaîté que le noir couvent
Assaisonne!
L’absent, Op 5 No 3
– Sentiers où l’herbe se balance,
Vallons, coteaux, bois chevelus,
Pourquoi ce deuil et ce silence?
– Celui qui venait ne vient plus.
Paths of swaying grass,
valleys, hillsides, leafy woods,
why this mourning and this silence?
– He who came here comes no more.
– Pourquoi personne à ta fenêtre,
Et pourquoi ton jardin sans fleurs,
Ô maison! où donc est ton maître?
– Je ne sais pas, il est ailleurs.
Why is no-one at your window,
and why is your garden without flowers,
O house, where is your master?
– I do not know: he is elsewhere.
– Chien, veille au logis. – Pourquoi faire?
La maison est vide à présent.
– Enfant, qui pleures-tu? – Mon père.
– Femme, qui pleures-tu? – L’absent.
Dog, guard the home. – For what reason?
The house is empty now.
Child, who is it you mourn? – My father.
Woman, who is it you mourn? – The absent one.
– Où donc est-il allé? – Dans l’ombre.
– Flots qui gémissez sur l’écueil,
D’où venez-vous? – Du bagne sombre.
Where has he gone? – Into the shadow.
Waves that moan against the reefs,
from where do you come? – The dark convict
prison.
And what do you carry? – A coffin.
– Et qu’apportez-vous? – Un cercueil.
Victor Hugo
15
Victor Hugo
Georges Bizet (1838–75)
Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe, Op 21 No 4
Puisque rien ne t’arrête en cet heureux pays,
Ni l’ombre du palmier, ni le jaune maïs,
Ni le repos, ni l’abondance,
Ni de voir à ta voix battre le jeune sein
De nos sœurs, dont, les soirs, le tournoyant
essaim
Couronne un coteau de sa danse,
they garland a hillside with their dance,
Adieu, beau voyageur! Hélas adieu.
Oh! que n’es-tu de ceux
Qui donnent pour limite à leurs pieds paresseux
Leur toit de branches ou de toiles!
Que, rêveurs, sans en faire, écoutent les récits,
Et souhaitent, le soir, devant leur porte assis,
De s’en aller dans les étoiles!
Farewell, fair traveller! Ah!
Why are you not like those
whose indolent feet venture no further
than their roofs of branch or canvas!
Who, musing, listen passively to tales
and dream at evening, sitting before their door,
of wandering among the stars!
Si tu l’avais voulu, peut-être une de nous,
O jeune homme, eût aimé te servir à genoux
Had you so wished, perhaps one of us,
O young man, would fain have served you,
kneeling,
in our ever-open huts;
lulling you asleep with songs, she would have
made,
to chase the noisome midges from your brow,
Dans nos huttes toujours ouvertes;
Elle eût fait, en berçant ton sommeil de ses
chants,
Pour chasser de ton front les moucherons
méchants,
Un éventail de feuilles vertes.
Si tu ne reviens pas, songe un peu quelquefois
Aux filles du désert, sœurs à la douce voix,
16
Since nothing can keep you in this happy land,
neither shade-giving palm nor yellow corn,
nor repose, nor abundance,
nor the sight of our sisters’ young breasts
trembling
at your voice as, in a whirling swarm at evening,
a fan of green leaves.
Qui dansent pieds nus sur la dune;
O beau jeune homme blanc, bel oiseau
passager,
Souviens-toi, car peut-être, ô rapide étranger,
Ton souvenir reste à plus d’une!
If you do not return, dream at times
of the daughters of the desert, sweet-voiced
sisters,
who dance barefoot on the dunes;
O handsome young white man, fair bird of
passage,
remember – for perhaps, O fleeting stranger,
more than one maiden will remember you!
Hélas! Adieu! bel étranger! Souviens-toi!
Alas! Farewell, fair stranger! Remember!
Victor Hugo
Translations © Richard Stokes
‘Pray how’, said the boys
‘are we going to flee
the police in our little boat?’
‘Row’, said the girls.
‘Comment’, disaient-ils,
‘Oublier querelles,
Misère et périls?’
‘Dormez’, disaient-elles.
‘Pray how’, said the boys,
‘are we to forget danger,
quarrels and hardship?’
‘Sleep’, said the girls.
‘Comment’, disaient-ils,
‘Enchanter les belles
Sans philtres subtils?’
‘Aimez’, disaient-elles.
‘Pray how’, said the boys
‘Are we to enchant you
without magic potions?’
‘Love’, said the girls.
Victor Hugo
Translation © Signum Records
Texts
Comment, disaient-ils, S276
‘Comment’, disaient-ils,
‘Avec nos nacelles,
Fuir les alguazils?’
‘Ramez’, disaient-elles.
17
Franz Liszt
About the performers
Simon Fowler
Opéra, as well as recording it under Valery
Gergiev. Other highlights have included Marie
(La fille du régiment), directed by Laurent Pelly,
at Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera,
Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opéra; and
La traviata in Tokyo, at the Aix-en-Provence
Festival, the Vienna State Opera and the
Metropolitan Opera. An encounter with
Emmanuelle Haïm led her to earlier music,
particularly the dramatic works of Handel.
Natalie Dessay
Natalie Dessay soprano
Since the beginning of her career, Natalie
Dessay has appeared on the world’s leading
stages. Her roles have included Mozart’s
Blonde, Queen of the Night and Pamina; and
Strauss’s Fiakermilli, Zerbinetta and Sophie.
During her career, she has regularly been
invited to sing at the Vienna State Opera,
Metropolitan Opera, New York, La Scala,
Milan, the Liceu in Barcelona, Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden, and the Paris Opéra.
18
She is also renowned in French operatic
repertoire, with roles including Ophélie, Minka,
Lakmé, Olympia and Manon. Equally admired
in bel canto, she has sung the title-role in
La sonnambula and is particularly acclaimed
for her interpretation of the title-role of Lucia
di Lammermoor, which she has sung at the
Chicago Opera, Metropolitan Opera and Paris
She has collaborated with Michel Legrand,
with whom she has toured Europe and North
and South America. A growing interest in
theatre has led in new directions, including
performing Howard Barker’s Und monologue.
As a recitalist she continues to be in great
demand in both Lieder and French mélodie,
performing with Laurent Naouri, Maciej
Pikulski and Philippe Cassard. Highlights of
her discography include a disc dedicated to
the music of Debussy and the recently released
Fiançailles pour rire (both Erato).
This season she performs the role of Fosca
(Stephen Sondheim’s Passion) at the Théâtre du
Châtelet in Paris.
She was made a Kammersängerin by the
Vienna State Opera.
Natalie Dessay appears by arrangement with
Les Grandes Voix/Céleste Productions.
She records exclusively for Erato.
Philippe Cassard
Philippe Cassard piano
Philippe Cassard has established an
international reputation as a concerto soloist,
recitalist and chamber musician since giving
a joint recital with Christa Ludwig in Paris in
1985. The same year he was a finalist in the
Clara Haskil Competition and in 1988 he won
the First Prize at the Dublin International Piano
Competition.
His concerto appearances include
performances with the BBC and London
Philharmonic orchestras, City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra
of Wales and Orchestre National de France.
He has worked with many leading conductors,
including Sir Neville Marriner, Jeffrey Tate,
Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yan Pascal Tortelier,
Raymond Leppard, Charles Dutoit, Armin
Jordan, Marek Janowski, Emmanuel Krivine
and Thierry Fischer.
About the performers
As a chamber musician he has appearead
with such artists as Natalie Dessay, Wolfgang
Holzmair, Paul Meyer, David Grimal, Anne
Gastinel, Matt Haimovitz and Isabelle Faust, as
well as the Ebène, Modigliani, Takács, Auryn,
RTÉ Vanbrugh, Danish and Chilingirian string
quartets.
His Debussy recordings (Decca) were awarded
a Grand Prix du Disque Français in 1994.
Other highlights of his discography include
solo works by Schumann, Schubert and
Brahms; Debussy songs with Natalie Dessay
and Debussy’s piano music for four hands with
François Chaplin.
Philippe Cassard was Artistic Director of
the ‘Nuits Romantiques du Lac du Bourget’
festival from 1999 to 2008; since 2005 he has
presented over 300 live weekly programmes
on France Musique Radio dedicated to piano
interpretation (awarded a Prix SCAM in 2007).
He has written a monograph on Schubert and
a book on the relationship between cinema
and music.
Programme produced by Harriet Smith;
printed by Mandatum Ink; advertising by Cabbell
(tel 020 3603 7930)
19
Bernard Martinez
His performance of the complete piano works
of Debussy, giving four recitals in a single day,
has been widely acclaimed. He has presented
the cycle at the Wigmore Hall and in Dublin,
Paris, Lisbon, Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo.
He also regularly performs in China, Australia,
South America and Canada.
barbican.org.uk
‘America’s reigning diva’
Washington Post
Renée Fleming
Artist Spotlight
5 Feb 16
BBC Symphony Orchestra/
Renée Fleming
6 Feb 16
Renée Fleming Masterclass
6 Apr 16
Renée Fleming in Recital
Image: Renée Fleming © Andrew Eccles for DECCA
An in the round celebration of one
of the world’s greatest sopranos

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