1. Part
Lyrism at the end of the 19th century
- Der fliegende Holländer (Richard Wagner, 1843) : Senta's ballade "Hojoho"
2.3 Act : Senta, Daland's daughter, is immersed in the painting of the Flying Dutchman, the story of which Mary had told her. Senta tells the spinners about her role as saviour.
(According to Wagner, he first wrote this ballad and it became the pivotal point of the music and drama of the composition. Senta tells the story of the Dutchman in this ballad, and the most important leitmotifs appear. In the first two verses, we hear the story of the Dutchman. This part begins with the Dutchman motif from the orchestra, followed by the ghost motif sung by Senta, and ends with the redemption motif. The girls then join in with the redemption motif in an emotional way, and Senta ends the ballad ecstatically with a wish to redeem the Dutchman.)
"Traft ihr das Schiff im Meere an,
blutrot die Segel, schwarz der Mast ?
Auf hohem Bord der bleiche Mann,
des Schiffes Herr, wacht ohne Rast.
Hui! - Wie saust der Wind! - Johohoe!
Hui! - Wie pfeit's im Tau! - Johohe!
Hui - Wie ein Pfeil fliegt er hin,
ohne Rast, ohne Ruh' !
Doch kann dem bleichen Manne
Erlösung einstens noch werden,
fänd' er ein Weib, das bis in den Tod
getreu ihm auf Erden!.
Ach! wann wirst du, bleicher Seemann, sie finden?
Betet zum Himmel, daß bald ein Weib
Treue ihm halt'!
Bei bösem Wind und Sturmes w
umsegeln wollt' er einst ein Kap;
er flucht' und schwur mit tollem Mut:
In Ewigkeit laß' ich nicht ab!
Hui! - Und Satan hört's! - Johohe!
Hui! - nahm ihm bei'm Wort! - Johohe!
Hui! - und verdammt zieht er nun
durch das Meer ohne Rast, ohne Ruh'!
Doch, daß der arme Mann'
noch Erlösung fände auf Erden,
zeigt' Gottes Engel an,
wie sein Heil ihm einst könnte werden.
Ach, könntest du, bleicher Seemann,
es finden!
Betet zum Himmel,
daß bald ein Weib Treue ihm halt'!
Vor Anker alle sieben Jahr
ein Weib zu frei'n, geht er ans Land:
er freite alle sieben Jahr',
noch nie ein treues Weib er fand.
Hui! - Die Segel auf! Johohe!
Hui! - Den Anker los! Johohe!
Hui! - Falsche Lieb', falsche Treu',
Auf, in See, ohne Rast, ohne Ruh!
Ich sei's, die dich durch ihre Treu' erlöse!
Mög' Gottes Engel mich dir zeigen!
Durch mich sollst du das Heil erreichen!"
Translated text :
"Johohoe ! Johohoe!
Hohohoe! Johoe!
Have you met the ship at sea
with blood-red sails and black mast ?
On the high dack, the pale man,
the mast of the ship, keeps endless watch.
Hui! How the wind howls - Johohoe
Hui! How it whistles in the igging, Johohoe!
Hui! Like an arrow he flied,
without aim, without rest, without peace !
But redemption may one day come to the pale man,
if he but find a woman on earth true unto death.
oh, when will you find her, wan mariner ?
Pray to Heaven that soon a woman
will stay true to him !
In butter gale and raging storm,
he once tried to round a cape;
he cursed, in mad fury, and swore:
"Never will I give up"
Hui! And Satan heard it! Johohoe!
Hui! Took him at his word! Johohoe!
Hui! And, damned, he now roams
the sea without rest or peace!
But the poor man may still find salvation on earth
for an angler of God showed him how one day
he might be redeemed.
Ah, wan mariner, could but find it!
Pray to Heave that soon
a woman will stay true to him!
At anchor every seven years,
a wife to woo he goes ashore:
he wooed every seven years,
but never a true wife he found.
Hui! "Hoist sails!" Johohoe!
Hui! "Weigh anchor! Johohoe!
Hui! "False love, false faith!
Back to sea, without rest or peace!"
It is I who will save you with my true love!
May God's angel show me to you!
Through me you shall find grace!"
- Lohengrin (Richard Wagner, 1850) : Traum des Elsa "Einsam in trüben Tagen"
1. Act : German King Heinrich has come to Brabant. He wants to force this part of his empire to join the fight against the Hungarian attackers. There is a dispute in Brabant. The deceased count had two children, Elsa and Gottfried. He placed them under the guardianship of Count Friedrich von Telramund and promised him Elsa's hand in marriage. But she refused to marry him. Friedrich then married Ortrud. After Gottfried's mysterious death, Friedrich accused Elsa of killing Gottfried with the help of a mysterious man. The king must now pass judgment in front of the court tree. Elsa is given the opportunity to defend herself in court. She appears and makes an absent impression, still in a state of shock over the death of her brother. Instead of defending herself, Elsa recounts her grief at her brother's death and her dream of a knight who will fight for her and prove her innocence.
"Einsam in trüben Tagen
hab’ ich zu Gott gefleht,
des Herzens tiefstes Klagen
ergoß ich im Gebet.
Da drang aus meinem Stöhnen
ein Laut so klagevoll,
der zu gewalt’gem Tönen
weit in die Lüfte schwoll:
Ich hört’ ihn fernhin hallen,
bis kaum mein Ohr er traf;
mein Aug’ ist zugefallen,
ich sank in süßen Schlaf.
In lichter Waffen Scheine
ein Ritter nahte da,
so tugendlicher Reine
ich keinen noch ersah.
Ein golden Horn zur Hüften,
gelehnet auf sein Schwert,
so trat er aus den Lüften
zu mir, der Rechke wert;
mit züchtigem Gebahren
gab Tröstung er mir ein:
des Ritters wil ich wahren,
er soll mein Streiter sein!
Hört, was dem Gottgesandten
ich biete für Gewähr :
in meines Vaters Landen
die Frone trage er,
mich glücklich soll ich preisen,
nimmt er mein Gut dahin,
will er Gemahl mich heissen,
geb’ ich ihm, was ich bin!"
Translated text :
"Lonely, in troubled days
I prayed to the Lord,
my most heartfelt grief
I poured out in prayer.
And from groans
there issued a plantive sound
that grew into mighteous roar
as it echoed trough the skies:
I listened as it receded into the distance
until my ear could scarce hear it;
my eyes closed
and I fell into a deep sleep.
In splendid, shining armour
a knight approached,
a man of such pure virtue
as I had never seen before:
a golden horn at his side,
leaning pn a sword -
thus he appeared to me
from nowhere, this warrior true;
with kindly gestures he gave me comfort;
I will wait for the knight,
he shall be my champion !
I will wait for knight,
he shall be my champion !
Hear what reward I offer
the one sent by God:
in my father's lands
he shall wear the crown.
I shall wear the crown.
I shall consider myself happy
if he takes my possessions -
if he wishes to call me spouse,
I shall give him all that I am !"
- Forza del Destino (Giuseppe Verdi, 1862): Final "Pace"
4.5 Act : When Leonora di Vargas’s father, the Marquis of Calatrava forces her to leave the man she loves and stay in the country, she makes a plan to escape this unfair imprisonment. But, the night her beloved Don Alvaro arrives to carry out the plan, her father hears them and tries to stop them. A shot is unintentionally fired from Alvaro's pistol, unintentionally killing the father. Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo, hunts them and seek for revenge. During their flight, they become separated, and when Leonora learns by mistake that Alvaro has fled to America, she enters a monastery as a hermit. Years later, she has not found peace there and wishes her dead.
"Pace, pace, mio Dio!
Cruda sventura
M'astringe, ahimé, a languir
Come il dì primo
Da tant'anni dura
Profondo il mio soffrir.
L'amai, gli è ver!
Ma di beltà e valore
Cotanto Iddio l'ornò.
Che l'amo ancor.
Né togliermi dal core
L'immagin sua saprò.
Fatalità! Fatalità! Fatalità !
Un delitto disgiunti n'ha quaggiù !
Alvaro, io t'amo.
E su nel cielo è scritto :
Non ti vedrò mai più !
Oh Dio, Dio, fa ch'io muoia ;
Che la calma può darmi morte sol.
Invan la pace qui sperò quest'alma preda a tanto duo.
Misero pane, a prolungarmi vieni la sconsolata vita …
Ma chi giunge ?
Chi profanare ardisce il sacro loco ?
Maledizione! Maledizione! Maledizione!"
Translated text :
"Peace, peace, o my God!
Cruel misfortune
compels me, alas, to languish;
for so many years
have I suffered,
as bitterly as at first.
I loved him, its true!
But God had blessed him
with such beauty and virtue
that I love him still,
and never shall I be able
to efface his image from my heart.
Ah, destiny! destiny!
A crime divided us here below!
Alvaro, I love you,
and in heaven it is written
that I shall never see you again!
Oh God, God, let me die:
for only in death shall I know peace.
My soul sought peace in vain in this world,
my soul, the prey of eternal sorrow."
2. Part
French Melodie
- La Valse, (Maurice Ravel in 1919/1920), played by Paula G. de Valle - piano solo
-
Evocation, composed by Pauline Viardot in 1863 on a Russian poem by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (translated by Viardot)
Text translated :
"Oh, if ever, during the night,
while there is peace on earth,
while the moon shines in the sky,
And whitens the stone of the graves,
If from the coffin, breaking the law,
the dead desert their homes,
Hear my voice, ye for whom I weep.
And from death return to me.
Come back, in spite of the fact that death
took revenge on you one day,
When pale and cold in my arms
You gave in to suffering.
Come back, star, evening fire,
Plaintive chord, light vapour,
Spector draped in a shroud,
What do I care? I want to see you!
I don't pretend, with your help,
to reveal the horrible crime
that has robbed me of my only love,
nor to fathom the abyss of death,
Nor in my heart, in despair
To kill the doubt, no I love you,
Hear this cry, always the same,
Above all, come back, I want to see you."
Text original :
"Oh! si jamais, pendant la nuit,
Lorsque la paix règne sur terre,
Lorsque la lune au ciel pâlit
Et des tombeaux blanchit la pierre,
Si du cercueil, rompant la loi,
Les morts désertent leur demeure,
Entends ma voix toi que je pleure
Et de la mort reviens à moi.
Reviens, ainsi que le trépas t'a faite
Un jour de vengeance,
Quand pâle et froide entre mes bras
Tu succombas à ta souffrance.
Reviens, étoile, feu du soir,
Accord plaintif, vapeur légère,
Spectre drapé dans un suaire,
Qu'importe à moi? je veux te voir!
Je ne prétends, par ton secours,
Ni dévoiler l'horrible crime
Qui me ravit mes seuls amours,
Ni de la mort sonder l'abîme,
Ni dans mon coeur au désespoir
Tuer le doute, non je t'aime
Entends ce cri, toujours le même,
Surtout reviens, je veux te voir."
- Nuit d'Etoile, composed by Claude Debussy in 1880 on a poem by Théodore de Bandeville
Text translated :
"Night of stars,
Beneath your veils,
beneath your breeze and fragrance,
Sad lyre
That sighs,
I dream of bygone loves.
Serene melancholy
Now blooms deep in my heart,
And I hear the soul of my love
Quiver in the dreaming woods.
Night of stars...
Once more at our fountain I see
Your eyes as blue as the sky;
This rose is your breath
And these stars are your eyes."
Text original:
"Nuit d’étoiles,
Sous tes voiles,
Sous ta brise et tes parfums,
Triste lyre
Qui soupire,
Je rêve aux amours défunts.
La sereine mélancolie
Vient éclore au fond de mon cœur,
Et j’entends l’âme de ma mie
Tressaillir dans le bois rêveur.
Je revois à notre fontaine
Tes regards bleus comme les cieux;
Cette rose, c’est ton haleine,
Et ces étoiles sont tes yeux.
Nuit d’étoiles,
Sous tes voiles,
Sous ta brise et tes parfums,
Triste lyre
Qui soupire,
Je rêve aux amours défunts."
- Beau Soir, composed by Claude Debussy in1890 on a poem by Paul Bourget
Text translated :
"When at sunset the rivers are pink
And a warm breeze ripples the fields of wheat,
All things seem to advise content -
And rise toward the troubled heart;
Advise us to savour the gift of life,
While we are young and the evening fair,
For our life slips by, as that river does:
It to the sea - we to the tomb."
Text original:
"Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses,
Et qu'un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé
,Un conseil d'être heureux semble sortir des chose
sEt monter vers le cœur troublé ;
Un conseil de goûter le charme d'être au monde
Cependant qu'on est jeune et que le soir est beau,
Car nous nous en allons, comme s'en va cette onde,
Elle à la mer, nous au tombeau."
-
À Chloris , composed by Reynaldo Hahn in 1916 on a poem by Théophile de Viau
Text translated :
"If it be true, Chloris, that you love me,
(And I'm told you love me dearly),
I do not believe that even kings
Can match the happiness I know.
Even death would be powerless
To alter my fortune
With the promise of heavenly bliss!
All that they say of ambrosia
Does not stir my imagination
Like the favour of your eyes!"
Text original :
"S’il est vrai, Chloris, que tu m’aimes,
Mais j’entends, que tu m’aimes bien,
Je ne crois point que les rois mêmes
Aient un bonheur pareil au mien.
Que la mort serait importune
De venir changer ma fortune
A la félicité des cieux!
Tout ce qu’on dit de l’ambroisie
Ne touche point ma fantaisie
Au prix des grâces de tes yeux."
- Si mes vers avaient des ailes, composed by Reynaldo Hahn in 1888 on a poem by Victor Hugo
Text translated :
"My verses would flee, sweet and frail,
To your garden so fair,
If my verses had wings,
Like a bird.
They would fly, like sparks,
To your smiling hearth,
If my verses had wings,
Like the mind.
Pure and faithful, to your side
They’d hasten night and day,
If my verses had wings,
Like love!"
Text original :
"Mes vers fuiraient, doux et frêles,
Vers votre jardin si beau,
Si mes vers avaient des ailes,
Des ailes comme l'oiseau.
Ils voleraient, étincelles,
Vers votre foyer qui rit,
Si mes vers avaient des ailes,
Des ailes comme l'esprit.
Près de vous, purs et fidèles,
Ils accourraient, nuit et jour,
Si mes vers avaient des ailes,
comme l'amour !"
-
Les Chemins de l'Amour, composed by Francis Poulenc in 1940 on a poem by Jean Anouilh
Text translated
"The paths that lead to the sea
Have retained from our passing
The flowers that shed their petals
And the echo beneath their trees
Of our clear laughter.
Alas! no trace of those happy days,
Those radiant joys now flown,
Can I find again
In my heart.
Paths of my love,
I search for you ceaselessly,
Lost paths, you are no more
And your echoes are muted.
Paths of despair,
Paths of memory,
Paths of our first day,
Divine paths of love.
If one day I must forget,
Since life obliterates everything,
I wish for my heart to remember one thing,
More vivid than the other love,
To remember the path
Where trembling and quite distracted,
I one day felt on me your passionate hands."
Text original :
"Les chemins qui montent à la mer ont gardé de notre passage
Des fleurs effeuillées et l'écho, sous leurs arbres, de notre rire clair.
Hélas ! Les jours de bonheur radieux, de joies envolées,
Je vais sans en trouver trace dans mon cœur.
Chemins de mon amour, je vous cherche toujours,
Chemins perdus vous n'ê
tes plus et vos défauts sont sourds.
Chemin du désespoir, chemin du souvenir, chemin du premier jour
Divin chemin d’amour.
Si je dois l’oublier un jour, la vie effaçant toutes choses
Je veux qu’en mon cœur un souvenir repose plus fort que notre amour
Le souvenir du chemin où tremblante et toute éperdue
Un jour j’ai senti sur moi brûler tes mains.
Chemins de mon amour, je vous cherche toujours,
Chemins perdus vous n'êtes plus et vos défauts sont sourds.
Chemin du désespoir, chemin du souvenir, chemin du premier jour
Divin chemin d’amour."
(bis) :
Carmen
by
Georges Bizet "L' amour est un oiseau rebelle"
