Hyperion Records

Aubade was commissioned by the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Noailles, rich patrons of the time, and first performed at a fancy dress party they gave with their customary lavishness in 1929. The wispy scenario is inspired by the plight of Diana, the ‘huntress chaste and fair’ of classical legend, who is condemned to eternal chastity. Horns and trumpets create a rustic atmosphere and introduce Diana. She is consumed with a burning passion and awakens each day to a reminder of her gloomy fate. Her wistful ‘Rondeau’ develops into a fortissimo of anguished despair. When her ladies-in-waiting have prepared her toilette to a mercurial ‘Presto’ she dances a ‘Variation’, delightfully Mozartian in flavour – as it should be since Poulenc, snapper-up of unconsidered trifles, steals the melody from one of the divertimenti. After her despair has burst out again into an ‘Allegro féroce’ an adagio concludes the action. She walks away accompanied by a misty woodwind phrase and is lost sight of among the trees. Her arm is glimpsed waving a last farewell as the piano intones a slow succession of chords. The sun comes out and a sharp staccato chord brings down the curtain.

The galant style of Aubade conceals a strain of pessimism; however impertinent the wit, however frisky the rhythm, a feeling of sadness persists. There are passages of exquisite melancholy which reflect a longing that will never be assuaged. Poulenc the jester, the playboy, here shows the more pensive side of his Janus-like character.

from notes by James Harding © 1989