Le Coq et l'Arlequin

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In his notorious little 1918 pamphlet Le Coq et l’Arlequin, Jean Cocteau pronouncedthat ‘a composer always has too many notes on his keyboard.’ This was a lesson theyoung Francis Poulenc took to heart and observed throughout his career; and nowhere

more tellingly than in the piano parts of his songs – far better written, he thought, thanhis works for piano solo.

After the First World War, the ethos of French art across the board lay in the direction ofclarity and simplicity. Cocteau further cried for ‘an end to clouds, waves, aquariums, waternymphs, an end to fogs’, and Erik Satie, the cultural godfather of the new French music,warned that fogs had been the death of as many composers as sailors. Another target wasthe ‘music one listens to head in hands’ – Wagner most notably, but also Schumann. ForPoulenc then, in quest of song texts, the nineteenth century was largely to be avoided andonly one of his texts,Théodore de Banville’s Pierrot, was published during it, while JeanMoréas’s four poems forming the Airs chantés were printed in the first decade of the twentieth.Otherwise Poulenc sought either distancing through pre-Romantic poetry or immediacythrough poetry of his own time.

In the present volume, only two of the song texts are historically distant. It has been said ofthe French that, the more revolutions they went through, the more they hankered after thecertainties, real or imagined, of their past. The fifteenth-century poet Charles d’Orléans,who provided three texts for Debussy songs, was captured by the English at the battle ofAgincourt in 1415 and kept a prisoner in the Tower of London for 25 years. His poem Priezpour paix therefore has personal resonance, and Poulenc’s setting, in the style of his recentLitanies à la Vierge noire, is intimate in tone. Although he called it ‘a prayer at a shrine in timeof war’, he wrote it on 29 September 1938; so it could more accurately be heard as aprophecy, casting reasonable doubt on the prospects of ‘peace in our time’. Hymne, writtenin New York in November 1948, was written for the bass Doda Conrad, who was one of

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1. Toréador -Chanson hispano-italienne [CM].....[6.26]

Trois Poèmes de Louise Lalanne [FL]2. i. Le Présent ....................................................[0.54]

3. ii. Chanson ......................................................[0.42]

4. iii. Hier..............................................................[2.09]

Deux poèmes deGuillaume Apollinaire [RM]

5. i. Dans le jardin d’Anna.............................[3.06]

6. ii. Allons plus vite.........................................[2.55]

Trois chansons deFederico Garcia-Lorca [LA]

7. i. L’enfant muet .............................................[1.41]

8. ii. Adelina à la promenade ........................[0.48]

9. iii. Chanson de l’oranger sec....................[2.40]

10. Paul et Virginie [CM]............................[1.09]

11. Nuage [LM] .................................................[2.24]

12. Hymne [JL] ..................................................[4.01]

13. Ce doux petit visage [LA]..................[1.53]

Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon [LA]14. i. C......................................................................[2.55]

15. ii. Fêtes galantes.............................................[0.59]

16. Priez pour paix [RM]...........................[2.41]

Tel jour telle nuit [FL]17. i. Bonne journée...........................................[2.40]

18. ii. Une ruine coquille vide .......................[2.09]

19. iii. Le front comme un drapeau perdu ...[1.04]

20. iv. Une roulette couverte en tuiles .........[1.02]

21. v. À toutes brides ...........................................[0.41]

22. vi. Une herbe pauvre ...................................[1.40]

23. vii. Je n’ai envie que de t’aimer ...............[0.54]

24. viii. Figure de force brûlanteet farouche........................................................[1.29]

25. ix. Nous avons fait la nuit ..........................[3.30]

26. La tragique histoire dupetit René [JL] .............................................[1.29]

27. Le petit garçon tropbien portant [LA].......................................[2.04]

Le travail du peintre [CM]28. i. Pablo Picasso ................................................[2.32]

29. ii. Marc Chagall...............................................[1.12]

30. iii. Georges Braque ........................................[1.34]

31. iv. Juan Gris.......................................................[2.11]

32. v. Paul Klee .......................................................[0.47]

33. vi. Joan Miró ....................................................[1.43]

34. vii. Jacques Villon ............................................[2.16]

35. Les chemins de l’amour [FL] ............[3.52]

Total timings: ..................................................[72.17]

Lorna Anderson [LA]

Jonathan Lemalu [JL]

Felicity Lott [FL]

Christopher Maltman [CM]

Lisa Milne [LM]

Robert Murray [RM]

Malcolm Martineau piano



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of his that Poulenc set in the autumn of 1943 see the war from two different perspectives.In ‘C’, where every line ends with the French sound of that letter, the composer reacts towhat he called the poem’s ‘extreme melancholy’, as the Germans overran France; in ‘Fêtesgalantes’, to the picture of total disorder in which marquises are reduced to riding bicycles– the title a bitterly ironical reference to the ordered life of eighteenth-century France aspainted by Watteau, Fragonard and Boucher.

The notion of Poulenc as a facile composer died hard. In fact, he often thought aboutpieces for years before completing them, as with the song Paul et Virginie to a poem byRaymond Radiguet, first attempted in 1920 but not given a final version until 1946.Thetitle refers to the idyllic novel of 1787 by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre that started the Frenchrage for the exotic. Pierre Bernac says the singer should try to invest the opening line,‘Ciel! Les colonies’ with the dreamlike atmosphere of ‘long voyages under sail, noblesavages, magic islands’. Poulenc, for his part, thought it would make a perfect encore piece.He admitted that the three poems by Federico Garcia Lorca he was working on duringthe summer of 1947 were giving him problems, and was never entirely happy with theresult – not that composers are always the best judges of their own work! After the spareopening song, ‘Adelina à la promenade’ bursts in like a whirlwind. The final song is asarabande. Poulenc accused it of being ‘nobly French’ instead of ‘gravely Spanish’; but asBernac pointed out, Poulenc could never be anything other than French…He also tookhis time over setting Laurence de Beylié’s poem ‘Nuage’: the poem was on his desk inAugust 1955, but he didn’t finish setting it until September 1956. With its marking‘doucement mélancolique’, its shifting phrase lengths and vocal style somewhere betweenmelody and recitative, it conforms to a Poulenc archetype.

He was adamant that the two formative poets for his song writing were Apollinaire andEluard. But once more, these influences took their time to mature. After the tiny

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singers in Nadia Boulanger’s famous Monteverdi recordings. Racine’s poem comes from atranslation of the Roman breviary he made in 1680. Poulenc underlines its hymnic qualityby frequent doubling of the vocal line by the piano’s right hand.

At the other extreme from these two religious offerings lie four examples of the ‘naughty’Poulenc – a side of him that for years had the unfortunate effect of deafening critics to hismore serious intentions. In Toréador, written in 1918 for a Cocteau music-hall evening,Poulenc deliberately mixes genres, producing ‘a Spanish/Italian song…that sends up thegeography of the café concert songs of the time, in which a Japanese girl got bored inPeking or Sappho fired questions at the Sphinx’.The prevailing waltz rhythm is decoratedwith Spanish curlicues (notably on the word ‘Toréador’) and broken up at the end of eachof the three verses in a way that anticipates Poulenc’s later Surrealist style.

Jean-Marie Legrand, known also as Jaboune and as Jean Nohain, had been a fellow pupilof Poulenc’s at the Lycée Condorcet and remembered the composer as no dunce, butsimply uninterested in the scholarly curriculum. Since no printed edition of the verses isknown, we may assume they were written specially for Poulenc, who set them in 1934.They are a perfect example of what he called ‘l’adorable mauvaise musique’, reminding usof his remark that if he hadn’t been Poulenc, he would like to have been MauriceChevalier – a parallel further underlined by the waltz Les chemins de l’amour, which closesthis recital in the same style as Toréador opens it. This ‘valse chantée’ formed the leitmotifof Anouilh’s play Léocadia, produced in Paris in November 1940, when it was sung byYvonne Printemps, one of Poulenc’s favourite artists.

The composer joined the French army for just over six weeks in June 1940.After that, heremained in France throughout the war and, while never an active résistant, was in closetouch with clandestine groups that included poets such as Louis Aragon.The two poems

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Apollinaire songs in Le bestiaire of 1919, Poulenc waited 12 years before setting the poetagain. The writer of the Trois poèmes de Louise Lalanne was a fictitious personage,comprising Apollinaire for the middle song and his mistress, the painter Marie Laurencin,for the outer two. According to Bernac, the Apollinaire poem is pure nonsense and noattempt should be made to instil any sort of meaning into it. ‘Le présent’ clearly echoesVerlaine’s ‘Voici les fruits’, set by Debussy and Fauré, in which the most important presentis the poet’s heart. But Poulenc’s version turns rather, by his own admission, to theimplacable octave writing in the finale of Chopin’s B flat minor Sonata. For ‘Hier’, hethought of an interior as painted by Vuillard: it stands as one of the most sheerly beautifulof all his songs.

By common consent, his Eluard cycle Tel jour telle nuit (As the day so the night), composedin 1936-7, is one of his outright masterpieces.The emotional and stylistic range of the ninesongs is immense, from the hypnotic pulsing of the first and last of them, both in C major,linking day with night, to the vividly surrealist images of the fourth and eighth songs,marked respectively ‘très lent et sinistre’ and ‘presto (très violent)’. Not only cannot any ofthe songs be extracted from its context within the whole, but some are even designated byPoulenc as mere interludes, preparing for the song that follows. Thus the third songprepares for the fourth, the prestissimo fifth song for the almost religious purity and calmof the sixth, which barely moves from its E minor/major tonality. Poulenc was remembering‘that life-affirming bitterness of a flower picked and chewed long ago near La GrandeChartreuse’. The cycle concludes with a coda for piano in the manner of Schumann:Poulenc mentioned the one in Dichterliebe, but perhaps an even closer comparison is withthe one that ends Frauenliebe und -leben.

In April 1939 Poulenc was about to re-orchestrate his ballet Les biches, the originalautograph score of which had been buried in 1930 with his friend from childhood,

Raymonde Linossier.Thinking of her, and of how much he used to rely on her taste andintelligence, he dedicated to her his short song Ce doux petit visage on another poem byEluard. It is one of his many essays in lyrical nostalgia.According to his belief that a musicalsetting should mirror the layout of the poem, in the fourth line, following a space inEluard’s text, the piano texture changes to Poulenc’s favourite repeated pairs of chords. Farmore unusual is his repetition of the last line – we don’t know whether Eluard wasconsulted about this! Unusual too is the fact that the repetition is mezzo forte after theoriginal piano.The effect is almost of Poulenc trying to force out a setting of a line thatlies too deep even for music, evoking Linossier’s youth that did indeed ‘flee before life’.

In the early 1950s Poulenc was mainly engaged on his opera Dialogues des Carmélites, addedto which various commentators were assuring the world that the era of mélodies had nowcome to an end. Even so, he was thinking of setting poems from Eluard’s 1948 collectionVoir, devoted to contemporary artists, and he eventually finished his cycle Le travail dupeintre in August 1956. His only regret was that he had been unable, before the poet’s deathin 1952, to persuade him to add a poem in praise of Matisse, as Eluard did not sharePoulenc’s enthusiasm for the artist. For the most part, the songs reflect the painters’characters: ‘Picasso’ is authoritarian, ‘Chagall’ a scherzo, ‘Braque’, according to Poulenc,‘perhaps too tasteful’, while in ‘Gris’ he was careful to bring out the rhythmic balancing ofcertain phrases, mirroring the painter’s exquisite eye for composition. ‘Klee’ draws theshort straw, as no more than a swift transition to ‘Miro’, marked by tempo fluctuationsunusual for this composer. Finally, in ‘Villon’ Poulenc is able to indulge his love for the‘litanies’ in Eluard’s poetry, and the cycle ends triumphantly with ‘the blood of the crowd’– blood for Eluard being a positive symbol of life and energy. The composer’s finalinstruction? As always, ‘be careful about the pedalling’…

© Roger Nichols

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1. Toréador – Chanson hispano-italienne [CM]Jean Cocteau (1889–1963)

Pépita reine de VeniseQuand tu vas sous ton miradorTous les gondoliers se disent:Prends garde – Toréador!

Sur ton cœur personne ne règneDans le grand palais ou tu dorsEt près de toi la vieille duègneGuette le Toréador.Toréador brave des bravesLorsque sur la place Saint marcLe taureau en fureur qui baveTombe tué par ton poignard.Ce n’est pas l’orgueil qui caresseTon cœur sous la baouta d’orCar pour une jeune déesseTu brûles Toréador.

Belle Espagnole Dans ta gondoleTu caracolesCarmencitaSous ta mantilleŒil qui pétilleBouche qui brilleC’est Pépita.

C’est demain jour de Saint EscureQu’aura lieu le combat à mortLe canal est plein de voituresFêtant le Toréador!De Venise plus d’une bellePalpite pour savoir ton sort

Mais tu méprises leurs dentellesTu souffres Toréador.Car ne voyant pas apparaître.Caché derrière un oranger,Pépita seule à sa fenêtre,Tu médites de te venger.Sous ton caftan passe ta dagueLa jalousie au cœur te mordEt seul avec le bruit des vaguesTu pleures toréador.

Belle Espagnole …

Que de cavaliers! que de monde!Remplit l’arène jusqu’au bordOn vient de cent lieues à la rondeT’acclamer Toréador!C’est fait il entre dans l’arèneAvec plus de flegme qu’un lord.Mais il peut avancer a peineLe pauvre Toréador.Il ne reste à son rêve morneQue de mourir sous tous les yeuxEn sentant pénétrer des cornesDans son triste front soucieuxCar Pépita se montre assiseOffrant son regard et son corpsAu plus vieux doge de VeniseEt rit du toréador.

Belle Espagnole …

1. Toreador – Spanish-Italian Song [CM]

Pepita, queen of Venice,when you appear on your balconyall the gondoliers say:look out – Toreador!

Nobody rules your heartas you sleep in the great palaceand nearby the old duenna keeps watch for the toreador.Toreador, the bravest of the bravewhen in Saint Mark’s Squarethe bull foaming with ragefalls dead by your dagger,It is not pride which caressesyour heart beneath your gold capeIt is for a young goddessthat you burn,Toreador.

Spanish beauty,in your gondolayou twist and turnCarmencitaBeneath your mantle,your eyes sparkleyour mouth shimmers,it is Pepita!

Tomorrow is the day of Saint EscureA fight to the death will occurThe canal is full of vesselsCheering the toreador!More than one beautiful heartthrobs to know your fate

but you scorn their beautyYou suffer Toreador.For not seeing her appear.Hidden behind orange-blossom,Pepita alone at her window,You brood on revenge.Beneath your kaftan is your daggerjealousy bites your heartand alone with the sound of the wavesyou weep toreador.

Spanish beauty …

What gentry! what a crowd!Filling the areana to the brimThey’ve come from a hundred miles aroundto cheer you,Toreador!It’s begins, he enters the arenaWith more calm than a lord.But he can barely moveThe poor Toreador;All that remains of his sad dreamis to die in front of everyonefeeling the horns penetratehis sad and grieving browFor he sees the seated Pepitaoffering her looks and her bodyto the old Doge of Venice,and laughing at the toreador.

Spanish beauty…

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Trois Poèmes de Louise Lalanne i. and iii. Marie Laurencin (1885–1956)ii. Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918)

2. i. Le Présent [FL]

Si tu veux je te donnerai Mon matin, mon matin gai Avec tous mes clairs cheveux Que tu aimes;Mes yeux vertsEt dorésSi tu veux.Je te donnerai tout le bruitQui se fait Quand le matin s’éveilleAu soleil Et l’eau qui coule Dans la fontaineTout auprés;Et puis encor le soir qui viendra viteLe soir de mon âme triste A pleurerEt mes mains toutes petites Avec mon cœur qu’il faudra près du tien Garder.

3. ii. Chanson [FL]

Les myrtilles sont pour la dame Qui n’est pas làLa marjolaine est pour mon âme Tralala!Le chèvrefeuille est pour la belleIrrésolue.Quand cueillerons-nous les airelles Lanturlu.Mais laissons pousser sur la tombe O folle! O fou!Le romarin en touffes sombres Laïtou!

4. iii. Hier [FL]

Hier, c’est ce chapeau fané Que j’ai longtemps trainéHier, c’est une pauvre robe Qui n’est plus à la mode.Hier, c’était le beau couventSi vide maintenant Et la rose mélancolieDes cours de jeunes filles Hier, c’est mon cœur mal donnéUne autre, un autre année!Hier n’est plus, ce soir,qu’une ombrePrès de moi dans ma chambre.

Three Poems by Louise Lalanne

2. i. The Present [FL]

If you wish I will give you my morning, my gay morning with all my bright hairthat you love;my eyes green and gold if you wish.I will give you all the sound which is heardwhen morning awakens to the sunand the water that flowsin the fountainnearby;And then again the evening that willcome quickly the evening of my soul sad enoughto weep, and my hands so smallwith my heart that will need to be closeto your ownto keep.

3. ii. Song [FL]

Myrtle is for the lady who is absentmarjoram is for my soul Tra-la-la!Honeysuckle is for the fair Irresolute.When do we gather the bilberries Lan-tur-lu.But let us plant on the tomb O crazed! O mazed!Rosemary in dark tufts La-i-tou!

4. iii. Yesterday [FL]

Yesterday is this faded hat that I have trailed about so longYesterday is a shabby dress no longer in fashion.Yesterday was the beautiful convent so empty nowand the rose-tinged melancholy of the young girls’ classesYesterday, is my heart ill-bestowed in a past, a past year!Yesterday is no more, this evening,than a shadowclose to me in my room.

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Deux poèmes de Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume Apollinaire

5. i. Dans le jardin d’Anna [RM]

Certes si nous avions vécu en l’an dix-sept cent soixanteEst-ce bien la date que vous déchiffrez.Anna, sur ce banc de pierre

Et que par malheur j’eusse été allemand.Mais que par bonheur j’eusse été prèsde vous Nous aurions parlé d’amour de façonimprécise Presque toujours en francais Et pendue éperdûment à mon bras Vous m’auriez écouté vous parler dePythagoras En pensant aussi au café qu’onprendrait Dans une demi-heure.

Et l’automne eût été pareil à cet automneQue l’epine-vinette et les pampres couronnent

Et brusquement parfois j’eusse salué très basDe nobles dames grasses et langoureuses

J’aurais dégusté lentement et tout seul Pendant de longues soiréesLe tokay épais ou la malvoisie J’aurais mis mon habit espagnolPour aller sur la route par laquelle Arrive dans son vieux carrosse

Ma grand’mere qui se refuse à comprendre l’allemandJ’aurais écrit des vers pleins de mythologieSur vos seins la vie champêtre et surles damesDes alentours

J’aurais souvent cassé ma canneSur le dos d’un paysan J’aurais aimé entendre de la musiqueen mangeant Du jambon J’aurais juré en allemand je vousle jure Lorsque vous m’auriez surprisembrassant à pleine bouche Cette servante rousse

Vous m’auriez pardonné dans le bois aux myrtilles

J’aurais fredonné un moment Puis nous aurions écouté longtempsles bruits du crepuscule

Two Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire

5. i. In Anna’s Garden [RM]

To be sure had we lived in the yearseventeen hundred and sixtyIs it not the date which you decipher,Anna,on this stone bench

and if by mischance I had been German, butif by good fortune I had been closeto you we would have spoken of love in avague way almost always in French and hanging passionately on my arm you would have listened to me speakingto you of Pythagoras while also thinking of the coffee wewould take in half-an-hour.

And the autumn would have been like this autumncrowned with berberis and vine branches

and I would at times have abruptly made a deep bowto stout languorous ladies of the nobility

I would have sipped slowly all by myselfduring long evenings heavy tokay or malmsey wine I would have donned my Spanish coat to go out on the road along which will arrive in her old fashioned carriage

my grandmother who refuses tounderstand GermanI would have written lines full of mythologyon your breasts on the pastoral life and on theladiesof the neighbourhood

I should have often broken my walking stickon a peasant’s back I should have liked to hear music whileeating hamI should have sworn in German I assure youwhen you caught me kissing full on the mouththis red haired serving-wench

you would have forgiven me in themyrtle wood

I should have hummed for a moment then wewould have listened long tothe sounds of twilight

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6. ii. Allons plus vite [RM]

Et le soir vient et les lys meurent Regarde ma douleur beau ciel qui mel’envoie Une nuit de mélancolie

Enfant souris ô sœur écoute Pauvres marchez sur la grand’routeO menteuse forêt qui surgis à ma voixLes flammes qui brûlent les âmes

Sur le boulevard de Grenelle Les ouvriers et les patronsArbres de mai cette dentelleNe fais donc pas le fanfaron Allons plus vite nom de DieuAllons plus vite

Tous les poteaux télégraphiques Viennent là-bas le long du quai Sur son sein notre RépubliqueA mis ce bouquet de muguet

Qui poussait dru le long du quai Allons plus vite nom de DieuAllons plus viteLa bouche en cœur Pauline honteuse Les ouvriers et les patrons

Oui-dà oui-dà belle endormeuse Ton frèreAllons plus vite nom de Dieu Allons plus vite

Trois chansons de Federico Garcia-LorcaFederico Garcia-Lorca (1898-1936)

7. i. L’enfant muet [LA]

L’enfant cherehe sa voix.C’est le roi des grillons qui l’a.Dans une goutte d’eau, l’enfantcherchait sa voix.Je ne la veux pas pour parler,j’en ferais une bagueQue mon silence portera à son pluspetit doigt.Dans une goutte d’eau l’enfantcherchait sa voix (La voix captive, loin de là, met uncostume de grillon).

8. ii. Adelina à la promenade [LA]

La mer n’a pas d’oranges et Séville n’a pas d’amour,Brune, quelle lumière brûlante! Prête-moi ton parasol.Il rendra vert mon visage – Jus de citron et de limon –Et tes mots – petits poissons – Nageront tout à l’entour.La mer n’a pas d’oranges Ay amourEt Séville n’a pas d’amour.

6. ii. Come along make haste [RM]

And the evening comes and the lilies diebeautiful sky see my suffering whichyou send to me a night of melancholy

Smile child O sister listen poor folk walk on the high roadO deceptive forest risen at my voicethe flames which burn souls

On the Boulevard de Grenelle the workers and the employerstrees of maytime this lacedo not flaunt it so much come along make haste for God’s sakecome along make haste

All the telegraph poles reach yonder along the quay on the breast of our Republic they have put this bouquet oflilies of the valley which grew densely along the quaycome along make haste for God’s sakecome along make hasteSimpering bashful Pauline the workers and the employers

O yes O yes beautiful humbug your brothercome along make haste for God’s sake comealong make haste

Three Songs by Federico Garcia-Lorca

7. i. The Dumb Child [LA]

The child searches for his voice.It is the king of the crickets who has it.In a drop of water, the child lookedfor his voice.I do not want it to speak with,I should make a ring of it that my silence will carry to hissmallest finger.In a drop of water the childlooked for his voice (The captive voice, far from there,put on a cricket’s costume).

8. ii. Adelina Out Walking [LA]

The sea has no oranges and Seville has no love.Brunette, what a burning light! lend me your parasol it makes my face look green– juice of lemon and of lime –and your words – little flshes –will swim all round about.The sea has no oranges Alas loveand Seville has no love.

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9. iii. Chanson de l’oranger sec [LA]

Bucheron Abat mon ombre Délivre-moi du supplice De me voir sans oranges.

Pourquoi suis-je né entre des miroirs? Le jour me fait tourner Et la nuit me copie dans toutes ses étoiles.Je veux vivre sans me voirLes fourmis et les liserons,Je rêverai que ce sont mes feuilles etmes oiseaux.

Bûcheron Abat mon ombre Délivre-moi du supplice De me voir sans oranges.

10. Paul et Virginie [CM]Raymond Radiguet (1903–1923)

Ciel! les colonies.

Dénicheur de nids,Un oiseau sans ailes,Que fait Paul sans elle? Où est Virginie?

Elle rajeunit.

Ciel des colonies,Paul et Virginie:Pour lui et pour elleC’était une ombrelle.

11. Nuage [LM]Laurence de Beylié (1893–1968)

J’ai vu reluire en un coin de mes âges,un souvenir qui n’était plus à moi.Son père était le temps sa mère une guitare qui jouiat sur des rêves errants.Leur enfant tomba dans mes mains et je le posai sur un chêne.Un oiseau en prit soin,maintenant il chante.Comment retrouver son père,voilé de vent,et comment recueillir les larmes de sa mèrepour lui donner un nom.Dans le passage d’un nuage nous verrons poindre l’éternité chassant le temps.En ce point tout est écrit.

12. Hymne [JL]Jean Racine (1639–1699)(Traduit du Breviaire Romain)

Sombre nuit, aveugles ténèbres,Fuyez, le jour s’approche etl’Olympe blanchit;Et vous, démons, rentrez dans vosprisons funèbres;De votre empire affreux, un Dieu nousaffranchit.

Le soleil perce l’ombre obscure,Et les traits éclatants qu’il lancedans les airs,

9. iii. Song of the Dried up Orange Tree [LA]

Woodman cut down my shadow deliver me from the anguish of seeing myself without oranges

why was I born between mirrors day turns me round and night imitates me in all its stars I want to live without seeing myself the ants and the lizards I will dream that they are my leavesand my birds

woodman cut down my shadow deliver me from the anguish of seeing myself without oranges.

10. Paul and Virginia [CM]

Heavens! The colonies.

Bird-nester,a bird without wings,what is Paul doing without her?Where is Virginia?

She grows younger.

Heaven of the coloniesPaul and Virginiafor him and for her it was an umbrella.

11. Cloud [LM]

I saw shining in a corner of my past life,a memory that was no longer mine.Its father was time its mother a guitar that played on wandering dreams.Their child fell into my hands and I put him in an oak tree.A bird took care of him now he sings.How to find his father again,veiled with wind,and how to gather the tears of hismother to give him a name.In the passing of a cloud we shall see eternity appear pursuing time.At this point all is written.

12. Hymn [JL]

(Translated from the Roman Breviary)

Dark night, blind shadow,fly away, day approaches and Olympuspales;and you, demons, go back to yourgloomy prisons;a God releases us from your dreadfulpower.

The sun penetrates the obscure shadow,and the glittering arrows that it shootsinto the air,

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Rompant le voile épais qui couvrait lanature,Redonnent la couleur et l’âme àl’univers.

O Christ, notre unique lumière,Nous ne reconnaissons que tes saintes clartés,Notre esprit t’est soumis,entends notre prière,Et sous ton divin joug, range nosvolontés.

Souvent notre âme criminelleSur sa fausse vertu, téméraire,s’endort;Hâte-toi d’éclairer, ô lumière éternelle,Des malheureux assis dans l’ombre de la mort.

Gloire à toi,Trinité profonde,Père, Fils, Esprit Saint: qu’on t’adore toujours,Tant que l’astre des temps éclairera le monde,Et quand les siècles même auront finileur cours.

13. Ce doux petit visage [LA]Paul Eluard (1895–1952)

Rien que ce doux petit visageRien que ce doux petit oiseau Sur la jetée lointaine où les enfantsfaiblissent

A la sortie de l’hiverQuand les nuages commencent à brûlerComme toujours Quand l’air frais se colore

Rien que cette jeunesse qui fuit devant la vie.

Deux poèmes de Louis AragonLouis Aragon (1897-1982)

14. i. C [LA]

J’ai traversé les ponts de Cé C’est là que tout a commencé Une chanson des temps passés Parle d’un chevalier blessé

D’une rose sur la chaussée Et d’un corsage délacé Du château d’un duc insensé Et des cygnes dans les fossés

De la prairie où vient danser Une éternelle fiancée Et j’ai bu comme un lait glacé Le long lai des gloires faussées

La Loire emporte mes pensées Avec les voitures versées Et les armes désamorcées Et les larmes mal effaces

O ma France ô ma délaissée J’ai traversé les ponts de Cé.

breaking through the thick veil thatcovered nature,give colour once again to the soul andthe universe.

O Christ, our only light,we acknowledge only your holy clarity,our spirit is in submission to you,hear our prayer,and beneath your divine yoke, subjectour will.

Often our guilty soul with false courage, recklessly sleeps;hasten to enlighten, O eternal light,the wretched ones crouched in theshadow of death.

Hail to thee, profound Trinity,Father, Son, Holy Ghost; let us ever adore you,as long as the sun illuminates the world,and even when the centuries end their course.

13. This Sweet Little Face [LA]

Nothing but this sweet little face nothing but this sweet little bird on the distant jetty where the childrenwane

At the end of winter when the clouds begin to burnas alwayswhen the fresh air is tinged with colour

Nothing but this youth that flies inthe face of life.

Two Poems by Louis Aragon

14. i. C [LA]

I have crossed the bridges of Cé it is there that it all began a song of bygone days tells of a wounded knight

of a rose on the carriage-way and an unlaced bodice of the castle of a mad duke and swans on the moats

of the meadow where comes dancing an eternal betrothed and I drank like iced milk the long lay of false glories

the Loire carries my thoughts away with the overturned cars and the unprimed weapons and the ill-dried tears

O my France O my forsaken France I have crossed the bridges of Cé.

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15. ii. Fêtes galantes [LA]

On voit des marquis sur des bicyclettes On voit des marlous en cheval jupon On voit des morveux avec des voilettes On voit des pompiers brûler lespompons

On voit des mots jetés à la voirie On voit des mots élevés au pavoisOn voit les pieds des enfants de Marie On voit le dos des diseuses à voix

On voit des voitures à gazogène On voit aussi des voitures à bras On voit des lascars que les longs neezgênent On voit des coîons de dix huit carats

On voit ici ce que l’on voit ailleurs On voit des demoiselles dévoyées On voit des voyous on voit des voyeurs On voit sous les ponts passer les noyés

On voit chômer les marchands de chaussuresOn voit mourir d’ennui les mireurs d’œufsOn voit péricliter les valeurs sûres Et fuir la vie à la six quatre deux.

16. Priez pour paix [RM]Charles d’Orléans (1394–1465)

Priez pour paix, douce Vierge Marie,Reine des cieux et du monde maîtresse,Faites prier, par votre courtoisie,Saints et saintes, et prenez votre adresseVers votre Fils, requérant sa Hautesse.Qu’il lui plaise son peuple regarder,Que de son sang a voulu racheter,En déboutant guerre qui tout dévoie.De prières ne vous veuillez lasser.Priez pour paix, priez pour paix,Le vrai trésor de joie.

Tel jour telle nuit Paul Eluard

17. i. Bonne journée [FL]

Bonne journée j’ai revu qui je n’oublie pasQui je n’oublierai jamais Et des femmes fugaces dont les yeux Me faisaient une haie d’honneur Elles s’enveloppèrent dans leursSourires

Bonne journee j’ai vu mes amis sans soucisLes hommes ne pesaient pas lourd Un qui passait Son ombre changée en souris Fuyait dans le ruisseau

15. ii. Fêtes galantes* [LA]

You see fops on bicycles You see pimps in kilts You see brats withveils You see firemen burning theirPompons

You see words thrown on the rubbish heapYou see words extolled to the skiesYou see the feet of Mary’s children You see the backs of cabaret singers

You see motor cars run on gasogene You see also handcarts You see wily fellows whose long noseshinder them You see fools of the first water

You see what you see elsewhere You see girls who are led astray You see gutter-snipes you see perverts You seedrowned folk floating underthe bridges

You see out of work shoemakersYou see egg candlers bored to deathYou see true values in jeopardy And life whirling by in a slap-dash way.

* This title is here used as a parody of the poetic Fêtesgalantes of Watteau and Verlaine.This poem consists ofmany idioms, and words which are occasionally used asmuch for their sound as for their sense. It is difficult totranslate it adequately, but an attempt is made to give anidea of the meaning.

16. Pray for Peace [RM]

Pray for peace, gentle Virgin Mary,Queen of the skies and Mistress of the world,Of your courtesy, ask for the prayers of all the saints, and make your address to your Son, beseeching his Majesty that he may please to look upon his people,whom he wished to redeem with his blood,banishing war which disrupts all.Do not cease your prayers.Pray for peace, pray for peace,and true treasure of joy.

Such a Day Such a Night

17. i. A good day [FL]

A good day I have again seen whom I do not forgetwhom I shall never forget and women fleeting by whose eyes formed for me ahedge of honour they wrapped themselves in theirsmiles

a good day I have seen my friends carefreethe men were light in weight one who passed by his shadow changed into a mouse fled into the gutter

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J’ai vu le ciel très grand Le beau regard des gens privés de tout Plage distant où personne n’aborde

Bonne journée qui commença melancoliqueNoire sous les arbres verts Mais qui soudain trempée d’aurore M’entra dans le cœur par surprise.

18. ii. Une ruine coquille vide [FL]

Une ruine coquille vide Pleure dans son tablier Les enfants qui jouent autour d’elle Font moins de bruit que des mouches

La ruine s’en va à tâtons Chercher ses vaches dans un préJ’ai vu le jour vois cela Sans en avoir honte

Il est minuit comme une flècheDans un cœur à la portée Des folâtres lueurs nocturnes Qui contredisent le sommeil.

19. iii. Le front comme un drapeau perdu [FL]

Le front comme un drapeau perdu Je te traîne quand je suis seulDans des rues froides Des chambres noires En criant misère

Je ne veux pas les lâcher Tes mains claires et compliquées Nées dans le miroir clos des miennes

Tout le reste est parfait Tout le reste est encore plus inutile Que la vie

Creuse la terre sous ton ombre

Une nappe d’eau près des seins Où se noyer Comme une pierre.

20. iv. Une roulette couverte en tuiles [FL]

Une roulotte couverte en tuiles Le cheval mort un enfant maître Pensant le front bleu de haine A deux seins s’abattant sur lui Comme deux poings

Ce mélodrame nous arracheLa raison du cœur.

21. v. À toutes brides [FL]

A toutes brides toi dont le fantôme Piaffe la nuit sur un violon Viens régner dans les bois

Les verges de l’ouragan Cherchent leur chemin par chez toi Tu n’es pas de celles Don’t on invente les désirs

Viens boire un baiser par ici Céde au feu qui te désespère.

I have seen the great wide sky the beautiful eyes of those deprived of everything distant shore where no one lands

a good day which began mournfullydark under the green trees but which suddenly drenched with dawn invaded my heart unawares.

18. ii. A ruin an empty shell [FL]

A ruin an empty shell weeps into its apron the children who play around it make less sound than flies

the ruin goes groping to seek its cows in the meadow I have seen the day I see that without shame

It is midnight like an arrow in a heart within reach of the sprightly nocturnal glimmeringswhich gainsay sleep.

19. iii. The brow like a lost flag [FL]

The brow like a lost flag I drag you when I am alone through the cold streets the dark rooms crying in misery

I do not want to let them go your clear and complex hands born in the enclosed mirror of my own

all the rest is perfect all the rest is even more useless than life

Hollow the earth beneath your shadow

A sheet of water reaching the breasts wherein todrown oneself like a stone.

20. iv. A gypsy wagon roofed with tiles [FL]

A gypsy wagon roofed with tiles the horse dead a child master thinking his brow blue with hatred of two breasts beating down upon him like two fists

This melodrama tears away from us the sanity of the heart.

21. v. Riding full tilt [FL]

Riding full tilt you whose phantom prances at night on a violin come to reign in the woods

the lashings of the tempest seek their path by way of you you are not of those whose desires one imagines

come drink a kiss here surrender to the fire which drivesyou to despair.

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22. vi. Une herbe pauvre [FL]

Une herbe pauvre Sauvage Apparut dans la neige C’était la santéMa bouche fut émerveillée Du goût d’air pur qu’elle avait Elle était fanée.

23. vii. Je n’ai envie que de t’aimer [FL]

Je n’ai envie que de t’aimer Un orage emplit la vallée Un poisson la rivièreJe t’ai faite à la taille de ma solitudeLe monde entier pour se cacherDes jours des nuits pour se comprendre

Pour ne plus rien voir dans tes yeux Que ce que je pense de toiEt d’un monde à ton image

Et des jours et des nuits réglés par tespaupières.

24. viii. Figure de force brûlanteet farouche [FL]

Figure de force brûlante et faroucheCheveux noirs où l’or coulevers le sudAux nuits corrompues

Or englouti étoile impure Dans un lit jamais partagé

Aux veines des tempes Comme au bout des seins La vie se refuse Les yeux nul ne peut les crever Boire leur éclat ni leurs larmes Le sang au dessus d’eux triomphepour lui seul

Intraitable démesurée Inutile Cette santé bâtit une prison.

25. ix. Nous avons fait la nuit [FL]

Nous avons fait la nuit je tiens ta main je veilleJe te soutiens de toutes mes forces Je grave sur un roc l’étoile de tes forces Sillons profonds où la bonté de toncorps germera Je me répète ta voix cachée ta voixpublique Je ris encore de l’orgueilleuseQue tu traites comme une mendiante Des fous que tu respectes des simplesoù tu te baignesEt dans ma tête qui se met doucementd’accord avec la tienne avec la nuitJe m’émerveille de l’inconnue que tu deviensUne inconnue semblable à toi semblable à tout ce que j’aimeQui est toujours nouveau.

22. vi. Scanty grass [FL]

Scanty grass wild appeared in the snow it was healthmy mouth marvelled at the savour of pure air it had it was withered.

23. vii. I long only to love you [FL]

I long only to love you a storm fills the valley a fish the riverI have formed you to the pattern of my solitudethe whole world to hide in days and nights to understand one another

to see nothing more in your eyes but what I think of you and of a world in your likeness

and of days and nights ordered by youreyelids

24. viii. Image of fiery wild forcefulness [FL]

Image of fiery wild forcefulness black hair wherein the gold flowstowards the south on corrupt nights

engulfed gold tainted star in a bed never shared

to the veins of the temples as to the tips of the breasts life denies itself no one can blind the eyes drink their brilliance or their tears the blood above them triumphs foritself alone

intractable unbounded useless this health builds a prison.

25. ix. We have made night [FL]

We have made night* I hold your hand I watch over youI sustain you with all my strength I engrave on a rock the star of your strength deep furrows where the goodness ofyour body will germinate I repeat to myself your secret voiceyour public voice I laugh still at the haughty woman whom you treat like a beggar at the fools whom you respect thesimple folk in whom you immerse yourselfand in my head which gently begins to harmonize with yours with the night I marvel at the stranger that you become a stranger resembling you resemblingall that I love which is ever new.

*We have turned out the light

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26. La tragique histoire du petit René [JL]Jean-Marie Legrand (1900–1981)

Avec mon face à mainJe vois ce qui se passeChez Madame GermainDans la maison d’en face.Les deux filles cadettesPréparent le repasReprisent les chaussett’sEt font le lit de leur papa.Emma s’occupe du balai,Paul va chercher le lait,Mais le petit RenéQuoique étant l’aînéFait rougir la maisonnéeD’un bout de l’annéeÀ l’aut bout d’l’année,Il met les doigts dans son nez.

Les sermons, les discoursDont ses parents le bourrentSemblent tomber toujoursDans l’oreille d’un sourd.Sa mère consternéeA beau le sermonner,Le priver de dîner,Et lui donner le martinet,L’enfermer dans les cabinets,Il se met les doigts dans le nezD’un bout de l’annéeÀ l’aut’ bout de l’année,C’est sa triste destinée,Pauvre petit René,Pour en terminer,On a dû lui couper le nez.

27. Le petit garçon tropbien portant [LA]Jean-Marie Legrand

Ah! Mon cher docteur, je vous écris,Vous serez un peu surpris,Je n’suis vraiment pas contentD’être tou jours trop bien portant …Je suis gras … Trois fois trop,J’ai des bras … Beaucoup trop gros.Et l’on dit, en me voyant:“Regardez-le, c’est effrayant,Quelle santé, Quelle santé!Approchez, on peut tâter!..

Ah! Mon cher docteur, c’est un enfer,Vraiment je n’sais plus quoi faire,Tous les gens disent à ma mère:“Bravo, ma chère, il est en fer…”

J’ai René, Mon aîné,Quand il faut être enrhumé,Ça lui tombe toujours sur le nez…Les fluxions,Attention!..C’est pour mon frère Adrien!Mais moi, j’n’attrappe jamais rien!

En pourtant j’ai beau, pendant l’hiver,M’exposer aux courants d’air,Manger à tort à travers Tous les fruits vertsY’a rien à faire…

Hélas, je sais que lorsqu’on à la rougeole,On reste au lit, mais on ne va plus à l’écolle…Vos parents sont près de vous,Ils vous cajolent,

26. The Tragic History of little René [JL]

With my spyglass to my faceSo much I can seeOf Mrs. Germaine’s placeThe house across from meThe two youngest girls busily spinMend the socks with sewing threadMake dad’s bed with a grinAnd set out the dinner spreadEvery day Emma sweeps the floor,Fetching the milk is Paul’s daily chore,And what of René?Though he is the oldestIt’s embarrassing to sayWhat he does bestFrom year start till year close,Is stick his fingers in his nose.

The lectures, the speechesAll the nightly preachesPlainly appear To fall on deaf ears.His poor worried motherTries one thing after anotherNo suppers, a chiding,Even a right hiding,She locks him in the closetBut in there still he does it,From year start to year close,He sticks his fingers in his noseThe sad end of the day,For poor little René,To help him to stop,His nose had to get the chop.

27. The Little Boy Who WasToo Healthy [LA]

Dear doctor, this may be unexpected,But I’m writing you, dejectedI am finding it quite loathsomeAlways being healthy and wholesomeI am as large … as a brigAnd my arms … are way too big.People say, when they see me,“Look at him, how can it be?So healthy, oh so healthy,Is it real? Can we feel?”

Dear doctor, I am through,I really don’t know what to do,To my mom, they say, when they see my mass,“Well done, dear, he’s made of brass…”

My brother René, I must saySeems to really have a wayA cold comes by, with him it staysAnd all coughs,They go offTo my brother Adrian, always coughingBut me? I catch nothing!

In wintertime, I try so hard,To sit in drafts out in the yardAnd you can always find me chewingFruit that’s still green– nothing doing!

I know when you get the measles, you’llStay in bed, and can skip schoolYour parents nearby,letting you rule

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Et l’on vous dit des tas de petits mots gentils…Votr’ maman, constamment Vous donne des medicaments.

Ah! Mon cher docteur, si vous étiez Gentil vous auriez pitié!Je sais bien c’que vous feriez,Les pilules que vous m’enverriez!..

Etre bien portant Tout l’temps,C’est trop embêtant…Je vous en supplie, docteur…Pour un’ fois, ayez bon cœur…Docteur, un’ seule fois, rendez moi Malad’Pendant une heure!

Le travail du peintrePaul Eluard

28. i. Pablo Picasso [CM]

Entoure ce citron de blanc d’œuf informeEnrobe ce blanc d’œuf d’un azur souple et finLa ligne droite et noire a beau venir de toiL’aube est derrière ton tableau

Et des murs innombrables croulent Derrière ton tableau et toi l’œil fixe Comme un aveugle comme un fou Tu dresses une haut épée dans le vide

Une main pourquoi pas une seconde main Et pourquoi pas la bouche nue commeune plumePourquoi pas un sourire et pourquoipas des larmes Tout au bord de la toile où jouent lespetits dous

Voici le jour d’autrui laisse aux ombres leur chanceEt d’un seul mouvement despaupières renonce.

29. ii. Marc Chagall [CM]

Ane ou vache coq ou cheval Jusqu’ à la peau d’un violon Homme chanteur un seul oiseauDanseur agile avec sa femme

Couple trempé dans son printemps

L’or de l’herbe le plomb du ciel Séparés par les flammes bleues De la santé de la rosée Le sang s’irise le cœur tinte Un couple le premier reflet

Et dans un souterrain de neige La vigne opulente dessine Un visage aux lèvres de lune Qui n’a jamais dormi la nuit.

30. iii. Georges Braque [CM]

Un oiseau s’envole,Il rejette les nues comme un voile inutile,Il n’a jamais craint la lumière,Enfermé dans son vol,Il n’a jamais eu d’ombre.

Coquilles des moissons brisées par le soleil.Toutes les feuilles dans les bois disent

Saying nice things, hugging you tooAnd your mommy, constantlyGiving you the medicine that you need

Oh, dear doctor, if onlyYou would take pity on me!I know just what you could doAnd what pills to send me, too!

To always, always be healthy,Is so annoying, can’t you see?I beg you doctor, just this onceGive me a special ordinance,Have a heart, if you willFor an hour, make me ill!

The Work of the Painter

28. i. Pablo Picasso [CM]

Surround this lemon with formless white of eggcoat this egg white with a malleable delicate bluealthough the straight black line surely comes from youthe dawn lies behind your picture

And innumerable walls crumble behind your picture and you your eyes fixed like a blind man like a madman you put a tall sword in the empty space

A hand why not a second handand why not a denuded mouth like a quillwhy not a smile and why not tearson the very edge of the canvaswhere little nails are fixed

This is the day of others leave their foodfortune to the shadowsand with a single movement of theeyelids renounce.

29. ii. Marc Chagall [CM]

Ass or cow cock or horse even the skin of a violin a singing man a single bird agile dancer with his wife

Couple steeped in their springtime

The gold of the grass the lead of the skydivided by the blue flames of health and of dew the blood grows iridescent the heart rings A couple the first reflection

And in an underground cavern of snowthe opulent vine delineates a face with moon-like lipswhich has never slept at night.

30. iii. Georges Braque [CM]

A bird flies away it throws offthe clouds like a useless veil,it has never feared the light,enclosed in its flight,it has never had a shadow.

Husks of harvest grains split by the sun.All the leaves of the wood say

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Oui,Elles ne savent dire que oui,Toute question, toute réponse Et la rosée coule au fond de ce oui.

Un homme aux yeux légers décrit le cield’amour.Il en rassemble les merveilles Comme des feuilles dans un bois,Comme des oiseaux dans leurs ailes Et des hommes dans le sommeil.

31. iv. Juan Gris [CM]

De jour merci de nuit prends garde De douceur la moitié du monde L’autre montrait rigueur aveugle

Aux veines se lisait un présent sans merciAux beautés des contours l’espace limitéCimentait tous les joints des objets familiers

Table guitar et verre vide Sur un arpent de terre pleine De toile blanche d’air nocturne

Table devait se soutenir Lampe rester pépin de l’ombreJournal délaissait sa moitié

Deux fois le jour deux fois la nuitDe deux objets un double objet Un seul ensemble à tout jamais.

32. v. Paul Klee [CM]

Sur la pente fatale le voyageur profiteDe la faveur du jour, verglas et sans cailloux,Et les yeux bleus d’amour, découvre sa saisonQui porte à tous les doigts de grandsastres en bague.

Sur la plage la mer a laissé ses oreilles Et le sable creusé la place d’un beau crime.Le supplice est plus dur aux bourreauxqu’aux victimes Les couteaux sont des signes et lesballes des larmes.

33. vi. Joan Miró [CM]

Soleil de proie prisonnier de ma tête,Enlève la colline, enlève la forêt.Le ciel est plus beau que jamais.

Les libellules des raisins Lui donnent des formes précises Que je dissipe d’un geste.

Nuages du premier jour,Nuages insensibles et que rien n’autorise,Leurs graines brûlent Dans les feux de paille de mes regards.

A la fin, pour se couvrir d’une saube Il faudra que le ciel soit aussi purque la nuit.

yes,they can say nothing but yes,every question, every answer and the dew flows in the depth of thisyes.

A man with carefree eyes describes the heaven of love.He gathers its wonders like leaves in a wood,like birds in their wings and men in sleep.

31. iv. Juan Gris [CM]

By day give thanks by night beware sweetnessone half of the world the other showed blind harshness

In the veins a merciless present was readin the beauties of the contours limited spacecemented all the joinings of familiar objects

Table guitar and empty glass on an acre of solid earth of white canvas of nocturnal air

Table had to support itself lamp to remain a pip of the shadow newspaperabandoning half of itself

Twice the day twice the night of two objects a double object a single whole for ever and ever.

32. v. Paul Klee [CM]

On the fatal slope the traveller benefitsfrom the favour of the day, glazedwith frost and without pebbles,and his eyes blue with love, discovers his season which bears on every finger greatstars as rings.

On the shore the sea has left its ears and the hollowed sand site of a noble crime.The agony is worse for theexecutioners than for the victims knives are omens and bullets are tears.

33. vi. Joan Miró [CM]

Sun of prey prisoner of my head,remove the hill, remove the forest.The sky is more beautiful than ever.

The dragonflies of the grapes give precise forms to it that I dispel with a gesture.

Clouds of primeval day,insensitive clouds sanctioned by nothing,their seeds burn in the straw fires of my glances.

At the end, to cloak itself with dawn the sky must needs be as pure as thenight.

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34. vii. Jacques Villon [CM]

Irrémédiable vieVie à toujours chérir

En dépit des fléauxEt des morales basses En dépit des étoiles fausses Et des cendres envahissantes

En dépit des fièvres grinçantes Des crimes à hauteur du ventre Des seins taris des fronts idiots En dépit des soleils mortels

En dépit des dieux morts En dépit des mensonges L’aube l’horizon l’eau L’oiseau l’homme l’amour

L’homme leger et bon Adoucissant la terreEclaircissant les bois Illuminant la pierre

Et la rose nocturne Et le sang de la foule.

35. Les chemins de l’amour [FL]Jean Anouilh (1910–1987)

Les chemins qui vont à la merOnt gardé de notre passage,Des fleurs effeuilléesEt l’écho sous leurs arbres,De nos deux rires clairs.Hélas! des jours de bonheur,Radieuses joies envolées,Je vais sans retrouver traces Dans mon cœur.

Chemins de mon amour,Je vous cherche toujours,Chemins perdus, vous n’êtes plus Et vos échos sont sourds.Chemins du désespoir,Chemins du souvenir,Chemins du premier jour,Divins chemins d’amour.

Si je dois l’oublier un jour,La vie effaçant toute chose,Je veux, dans mon cœur, qu’un souvenirrepose,Plus fort que l’autre amour.Le souvenir du chemin,Où tremblante et toute éperdue,

Un jour j’ai senti sur moi Brûler tes mains.

Chemins de mon amour,(etc…)

34. vii. Jacques Villon [CM]

Irremediable lifelife ever to be cherished

Despite scourgesand base morals despite false stars and encroaching ashes

Despite grinding fevers crimes belly-high dried up breasts foolish faces despite the mortal suns

Despite the dead gods despite the lies dawn horizon water bird man love

man light-hearted and good smoothing the earthclearing the woods illuminating the stone

And the nocturnal rose and the blood of the crowd.

35. The Paths of Love [FL]

The paths that lead to the seahave kept from our passing,flowers with fallen petals and the echo beneath their trees of our clear laughter.Alas! of our days of happiness,radiant joys now flown,no trace can be found again in my heart.

Paths of my love,I seek you for ever,lost paths, you are there no more and your echoes are mute.Paths of despair,paths of memory,paths of the first day,divine paths of love.

If one day I must forget,life effacing all remembranceI would, in my heart, that one memoryremains,stronger than the former love.The memory of the path,where trembling and utterly bewildered,

one day I felt upon me your burning hands.

Paths of my love,(etc…)

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LORNA ANDERSON

Lorna Anderson has appeared in opera, concert and recital with majororchestras and festivals throughout Europe and elsewhere. As a renownedperformer of the baroque repertoire she has sung with the Orchestra of theAge of Enlightenment, Les Arts Florissants, The Sixteen, The EnglishConcert, St. James Baroque, London Baroque, Collegium Musicum 90,The King’s Consort, London Classical Players, La Chapelle Royale and theAcademy of Ancient Music under conductors which include WilliamChristie, Harry Christophers, Richard Egarr, Trevor Pinnock, RichardHickox, Nicholas McGegan, Robert King, and Sir Charles Mackerras.

In opera she has sung Morgana (Alcina) at the Halle Handel Festival, Sevilla (La Clemenza di Tito)with the Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, Handel (Theodora) with Glyndebourne TouringOpera, Handel (Riccardo Primo) at the Göttingen Festival with Nicholas McGegan, Purcell (TheFairy Queen) with the English Concert and Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorindawith Netherlands Opera which was also filmed.

Lorna Anderson has also established an important reputation in the standard concert repertoire,having sung with the BBC Orchestras, the Bach Choir, London Mozart Players, Royal LiverpoolPhilharmonic, Israel Camerata, RAI Turin (Les Noces), New World Symphony in Miami,Houston Symphony Orchestra,Washington Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra,Ensemble Intercontemporain under Pierre Boulez, London Sinfonietta under Sir Simon Rattleand at the Salzburg, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh Festivals among others. She has recently toured inLibya and China with the Academy of Ancient Music.

Her numerous recordings include; The Fairy Queen under Harry Christophers, Haydn Massesunder Richard Hickox, a disc of Portuguese love songs and for Hyperion she has recorded Brittenfolksong settings with Malcolm Martineau, Handel’s L’Allegro with Robert King and is an artiston Graham Johnson’s complete Schubert Edition. Recent releases include part of a long termproject to perform and record all of Haydn’s Scottish song arrangements for voice and piano triowith Haydn Trio Eisenstadt.The fifth and final set of discs were released in October 2008 as aprelude to the bicentenary celebrations of both Haydn and Robert Burns in 2009 whenperformances were given throughout the year in Europe as well as New York and Washington.Lorna Anderson also features in a recording of ‘Lament for Mary Queen of Scots’ which wascommissioned from James MacMillan.

JONATHAN LEMALU

Jonathan Lemalu, a New Zealand born Samoan, is already at the veryforefront of today’s young generation of singers. He graduated from aPostgraduate Diploma Course in Advanced Performance on the LondonRoyal Schools Opera Course at the Royal College of Music and wasawarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal. He is a joint winner of the2002 Kathleen Ferrier award and the recipient of the 2002 RoyalPhilharmonic Society’s Award for Young Artist of the Year.

Jonathan’s debut recital disc was awarded the Gramophone MagazineDebut Artist of the Year award. He subsequently released his first solo recording, with the NewZealand Symphony Orchestra, and then a recital disc with Malcolm Martineau, featuring theBelcea Quartet.

He has performed at the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at theRavinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Conlon.At the Edinburgh Festivalhe has appeared under Runnicles and Mackerras.At the BBC Proms he has performed with theHallé Orchestra and with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Other concert engagementsinclude The Flowering Tree with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, The Damnation of Faust with theToronto Symphony Orchestra under Dutoit, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the LondonSymphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra underDutoit, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart arias withthe Salzburg Camerata, Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic and the worldpremiere of Harbison’s Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink inBoston and New York.

Equally at home on the recital platform, he has given recitals throughout Europe and NorthAmerica, taking him to Cologne, Athens, Birmingham, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Brussels, Baden-Baden,Vienna, Montreal,Vancouver, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington, New York’s CarnegieHall, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Munich and Edinburgh Festivals.

His operatic engagements in the UK have included Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Don Basilio(The Barber of Seville) for English National Opera, Papageno (The Magic Flute) for theGlyndebourne Festival and Zoroastro (Orlando) and Colline (La Boheme) at the Royal OperaHouse, Covent Garden. In Europe, he has sung the title roles in Saul and Le Nozze di Figaro,

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Argante (Rinaldo) and Leporello (Don Giovanni) for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Leporello forHamburg Opera, Rodomonte (Orlando Palladino) and Papageno for the Theater an der Wien,Bottom for the Opera de Lyon and in Bari and Rocco (Fidelio) under Gergiev at the GergievFestival in Rotterdam. He also recently sang his first Porgy for the Styriarte Festival withHarnoncourt. For Opera Australia he has sung Leporello (Don Giovanni) and Mozart’s Figaro. Inthe United States, he made his debuts for the Metropolitan Opera Company as Masetto (DonGiovanni), for the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Papageno, the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro forthe Cincinnati Opera and Queegueg in Jake Heggie’s world premiere based on Moby Dick forDallas Opera.

FELICITY LOTT

Felicity Lott was born and educated in Cheltenham, read French at RoyalHolloway College, of which she is now an Honorary Fellow, and singing atthe Royal Academy of Music, of which she is a Fellow and a VisitingProfessor. Her operatic repertoire ranges from Handel to Stravinsky, but shehas above all built up her formidable international reputation as aninterpreter of the great roles of Mozart and Strauss. At the Royal OperaHouse she has sung Anne Trulove, Blanche, Ellen Orford, Eva, CountessAlmaviva and under Mackerras,Tate, Davis and Haitink, the Marschallin.At the Glyndebourne Festival her roles include Anne Trulove, Pamina, Donna Elvira,Oktavian, Christine (Intermezzo), Countess Madeleine (Capriccio) and the title role in Arabella. Herroles at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich include Christine, Countess Almaviva, CountessMadeleine and the Marschallin. For the Vienna State Opera her roles include the Marschallinunder Kleiber which she has sung both in Vienna and Japan. In Paris, at the Opera Bastille, OperaComique, Chatelet and Palais Garnier she has sung Cleopatra, Fiordiligi, Countess Madeleine, theMarschallin and the title roles in La Belle Helene and La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein. At theMetropolitan Opera, New York, she sang the Marschallin under Carlos Kleiber and CountessAlmaviva under James Levine. She also sang Poulenc’s heroine in staged performances of La VoixHumaine at the Teatro de La Zarzuela, Madrid, the Maison de la Culture de Grenoble and theOpera National de Lyon.

She has sung with the Vienna Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestras under Solti, theMunich Philharmonic under Mehta, the London Philharmonic under Haitink,Welser-Moest andMasur, the Concertgebouworkest under Masur, the Suisse Romande and Tonhalle orchestras

under Armin Jordan, the Boston Symphony under Previn, the New York Philharmonic underPrevin and Masur, the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis in London, Sydney andNew York, and the Cleveland Orchestra under Welser-Moest in Cleveland and Carnegie Hall. InBerlin she has sung with the Berlin Philharmonic under Solti and Rattle and the DeutscheStaatskapelle under Philippe Jordan.

A founder member of The Songmakers’ Almanac, Felicity has appeared on the major recitalplatforms of the world, including the Salzburg, Prague, Bergen, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh andMunich Festivals, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Salle Gaveau, Muséed’Orsay,Opera Comique,Chatelet and Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris. She has a particularlyclose association with the Wigmore Hall and received the Wigmore Hall Medal in February 2010for her significant contribution to the hall.

Her many awards include honorary doctorates at the Universities of Oxford, Loughborough,Leicester, London and Sussex and the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. She wasmade a CBE in the 1990 New Year Honours and in 1996 was created a Dame Commander ofthe British Empire. In February 2003 she was awarded the title of Bayerische Kammersängerin.She has also been awarded the titles Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier del’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Government.

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LISA MILNE

Scottish soprano Lisa Milne studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Musicand Drama.

In opera, her appearances have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) andSusanna (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York andPamina, Marzelline (Fidelio), Micäela (Carmen) and the title roles inRodelinda and Theodora at the Glyndebourne Festival. Her many roles atthe English National Opera have included Countess Almaviva (Le nozze diFigaro), the title role in Alcina and Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress). Atthe Welsh National Opera she has sung Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) and she created the role ofSian in the world premiere of James MacMillan’s opera The Sacrifice. For Scottish Opera she hassung the title role in Semele, Adèle (Die Fledermaus), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Zerlina (DonGiovanni), Susanna, Ilia (Idomeno) and Despina (Così fan tutte). She has also appeared with theDallas Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Royal Danish Opera, at the Göttingen Handel Festival and on tourwith the Salzburg Festival.

A frequent guest at the major festivals, her many concert engagements have included appearanceswith the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Levine, the Berlin Philharmonic with Rattle, theRotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Gergiev, the Dresden Staatskapelle with Ticciati, theBudapest Festival Orchestra with Fischer and the New York and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestraswith Harding.

A renowned recitalist, she has appeared at the Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh and City of LondonFestivals; the Oxford Lieder Festival; the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and at theSchumannfeste in Dusseldorf. She is a regular guest at London’s Wigmore Hall.

Her many recordings include Ilia and Servilia with Mackerras, Atalanta (Serse) with McGegan,The Governess (The Turn of the Screw) with Hickox and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Fischer– winner of a Gramophone Award.

She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2005.

CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN

Winner of the Lieder Prize at the 1997 Cardiff Singer of the WorldCompetition, Christopher Maltman read biochemistry at WarwickUniversity and studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music.

On the opera stage, his recent appearances include the title role of DonGiovanni at the Salzburg Festival, at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich andin Cologne; and Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte),Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen), Marcello (La bohème) and Ramiro(L’heure espagnole) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. His roles atthe Glyndebourne Festival have included Papageno, Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) and Sid (AlbertHerring). At the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, he has sung Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia),Guglielmo, Marcello and Albert (Werther). Other opera appearances in Europe include Il Conte(Le nozze di Figaro) and Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas) in Vienna; Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at theDeutsche Staatsoper, Berlin and Tarquinius at the Aldeburgh Festival and at the English NationalOpera.An acclaimed Billy Budd, he has sung the role at Welsh National Opera,Teatro Regio inTurin, Seattle, Frankfurt and in Munich.

In the U.S. he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York as Papageno, Harlekin (Ariadneauf Naxos) and Silvio (I Pagliacci); in San Francisco as Papageno; in Seattle as Guglielmo and inSan Diego as Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Laurent (Therese Raquin).

He appears regularly in concert with the world’s great orchestras and conductors. A renownedrecitalist, he has appeared in Edinburgh, Vienna, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Cologne,Milan, and New York. He is a regular guest at the Wigmore Hall in London and at theSchwarzenberg Schubertiade.

He has recorded the Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music for Decca;Warlock, Holst and Somervellsongs for Collins Classics; and he took part in Deutsche Grammophon’s complete BeethovenFolk Song project. His recording of Schumann’s Dichterliebe for Hyperion was released totremendous critical acclaim and he has recently recorded Schumann’s Liederkreis Op.24 withGraham Johnson, a Debussy album with Malcolm Martineau and a disc of English songs withRoger Vignoles. On film, he has appeared in John Adams’ award-winning The Death of Klinghoffer,and as the title role in Juan, a new film production of Don Giovanni which premiered at theFilmFest Hamburg in October 2010.

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ROBERT MURRAY

Robert Murray studied at the Royal College of Music and the NationalOpera Studio. He won second prize in the Kathleen Ferrier awards 2003and was a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House CoventGarden. Operatic roles at the Royal Opera House include Tamino (DieZauberflote), Borsa (Rigoletto), Gastone (La Traviata), Harry (La Fanciulla delWest), Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Agenore (Il re Pastore),Belfiore (La Finta Giardiniera), Jacquino (Fidelio) and Don Ottavio (DonGiovanni). He recently sang the title role in Albert Herring forGlyndebourne On Tour, Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress) for Garsington Opera,The Simpleton (Boris Godunov),Tamino,Toni Reischmann (Henze’s Elegy For Young Lovers) andIdamante (Idomeneo) for ENO; Benvolio (Romeo et Juliette) at the Salzburg Festival and Ferrando(Cosi fan Tutte) for Opera North.

He has sung in concert with many of the leading early music specialists, including Sir John EliotGardiner for the BBC Proms, Sir Charles Mackerras, Emanuelle Haim and Harry Christophers.At the Aldeburgh Festival, he has performed Britten’s War Requiem with Simone Young, andBritten’s Our Hunting Fathers with the CBSO and Thomas Adès.At the Edinburgh Festival he hasperformed Strauss’s Elektra with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Edward Gardner,Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and David Jones,Schumann’s Manfred with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov and Haydn’sDie sieben letzten Worte des Erlösers am Kreuze with the SCO. In Europe he appeared with theRotterdam Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev and Yannick Nezet-Seguin; at the Gstaad Festivalwith the Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh; in Paris under Esa-Pekka Salonen and inMadrid with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de Espana.

In recital he has performed at the Newbury,Two Moors, Brighton and Aldeburgh Festivals andat London’s Wigmore Hall. He has toured Die Schöne Müllerin extensively with MalcolmMartineau, and recorded a recital of Brahms, Poulenc and Barber with Simon Lepper for Voiceson BBC Radio 3.

MALCOLM MARTINEAU

Malcolm Martineau was born in Edinburgh, read Music at St Catharine'sCollege, Cambridge and studied at the Royal College of Music.

Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he hasworked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir ThomasAllen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge,AngelaGheorghiu,Susan Graham,Thomas Hampson,Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside,Anna Netrebko, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel and Sarah Walker.

He has presented his own series at St Johns Smith Square (the complete songs ofDebussy and Poulenc), the Wigmore Hall (a Britten and a Poulenc series broadcast by the BBC)and at the Edinburgh Festival (the complete lieder of Hugo Wolf). He has appeared throughoutEurope (including London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal OperaHouse; La Scala, Milan; the Chatelet, Paris; the Liceu, Barcelona; Berlin’s Philharmonie andKonzerthaus; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein),North America (including in New York both Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall), Australia(including the Sydney Opera House) and at the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh,Schubertiade, Munich and Salzburg Festivals.

Recording projects have included Schubert, Schumann and English song recitals with Bryn Terfel(for Deutsche Grammophon); Schubert and Strauss recitals with Simon Keenlyside (for EMI);recital recordings with Angela Gheorghiu and Barbara Bonney (for Decca), Magdalena Kozena(for DG), Della Jones (for Chandos), Susan Bullock (for Crear Classics), Solveig Kringelborn (forNMA); Amanda Roocroft (for Onyx); the complete Fauré songs with Sarah Walker and TomKrause; the complete Britten Folk Songs for Hyperion; and the complete Beethoven Folk Songsfor Deutsche Grammophon.

Recent engagements include appearances with Sir Thomas Allen, Susan Graham, SimonKeenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Dame Felicity Lott, ChristopherMaltman, Kate Royal, Michael Schade, and Bryn Terfel.

He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009.

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This recording was made with generous support

from Simon Yates and Kevin Roon.

Song texts are reproduced by kind permission of Kahn & Averill,

from Pierre Bernac’s Francis Poulenc: The man and his songs,

with English translations by Winifred Radford.

The Steinway concert piano chosen and hired by Signum Records for

this recording is supplied and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London

Recorded at St Michael and All Angels in Summertown, Oxford,

from 14-20 February and 6-10 September 2010.

Producer – John West

Engineer & Editor – Andrew Mellor

Design - Darren Rumney

P2011 The copyright in this recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd.C2011 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd.

Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discsconstitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for publicperformances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd.All rights reserved. No part

of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd.

SignumClassics,

Signum Records Ltd, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, UK.

+44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected]

www.signumrecords.com

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Le Coq et l'Arlequin

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