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Ben Johnson (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano)» More |
O tu che dormi e riposata stai
N testò bel letto senza pensimento [penzamento],
Risvegliati un pochino, è sentirai
Tuo servo che per te fa un gran lamento …
The Italian sources for the remaining strophes of Bussine’s poem-translation are to be found three pages further on in Canti popolari, a combination of ‘Fine della Serenata’: 2 (‘Non posso più cantar … Stanotte son dormito al ciel sereno’) and ‘Fine della Serenata’: 3 (‘Non posso più cantar, che non ho voce / E m’entra in bocca, e non mi lassa dire’ …). It was this last poem which was Paul Heyse’s source for the German translation ‘Nicht länger kann ich singen’, set to music by Hugo Wolf as No 42 of his Italienisches Liederbuch (1896). The Wolf song is richly comic but there is nothing amusing about Fauré’s, even if a confession of vocal limitations (‘che non ho voce’ or ‘ma voix expire’) is rare in an Italian song. The initial climb of the vocal line, followed by a fall in gradual stages, is another example of the ‘Viardot motif’ identified by Nectoux. The music is even more refined than the much earlier Barcarolle with a similarly languid and luscious entwining of voice and piano. In Barcarolle the governing rhythm is that of an oar plying through the Venetian lagoon; this song, like all serenades worthy of the name, is accompanied by one version or other of those gently strummed chords which are a pianistic stand-in for lute or guitar. The original key is B flat minor; as is the greatest of all serenades in that tonality – Clair de lune.
from notes by Graham Johnson © 2005
O tu che dormi e riposata stai
N testò bel letto senza pensimento [penzamento],
Risvegliati un pochino, è sentirai
Tuo servo che per te fa un gran lamento …
Les sources italiennes des autres strophes du poème-traduction de Bussine se trouvent trois pages plus loin, toujours dans les Canti popolari, et combinent «Fine della Serenata»: 2 («Non posso più cantar … Stanotte son dormito al ciel sereno») à «Fine della Serenata»: 3 («Non posso più cantar, che non ho voce / E m’entra in bocca, e non mi lassa dire» …). Ce dernier poème servit de base à Paul Heyse, qui en assura la traduction allemande «Nicht länger kann ich singen», mise en musique par Hugo Wolf sous le no42 de son Italianisches Liederbuch (1896). Autant le lied de Wolf est somptueusement comique, autant la mélodie de Fauré n’a rien d’amusant, alors que l’aveu des limites vocales («che non ho voce», «ma voix expire») est rare dans la chanson italienne. L’ascension première de la ligne vocale, suivie d’une chute progressive, est un nouvel exemple du «motif de Viardot» identifié par Nectoux. La musique est encore plus raffinée que la Barcarolle, dotée, elle aussi, d’un langoureux et séduisant entrelacement voix/piano. Dans Barcarolle, le rythme dominant est imprimé par une rame maniée dans la lagune vénitienne; la présente mélodie, en bonne sérénade, s’accompagne, d’une manière ou d’une autre, de ces accords doucement tapotés, doublure pianistique du luth ou de la guitare. La tonalité originelle est si bémol mineur – comme la plus grande des sérénades écrites dans cette tonalité: Clair de lune.
extrait des notes rédigées par Graham Johnson © 2005
Français: Hypérion
Fauré: The Complete Songs, Vol. 1 Malcolm Martineau brings together some of the UK’s finest singers for the first release in a new series charting the complete songs of French composer Gabriel Fauré.» More |