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Track(s) taken from CDA67335

Poème d'un jour, Op 21

composer
1878; ‘À Madame la comtesse de Gauville’, Hamelle: Second Collection
author of text

John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: August 2004
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Release date: July 2005
Total duration: 5 minutes 40 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

John Chest (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Reviews

‘Recording and presentation are the stuff of dreams. Hyperion has done Fauré proud’ (Gramophone)

‘The songs certainly show Fauré to possess a far wider expressive range than an acquaintance with just a handful of his best-known examples would suggest … the gem of the set has to be Christopher Maltman's traversal of the substantial cycle La bonne chanson. The baritone's rich, subtly shaded tone and alert sensitivity to text prove ideal in this perfectly judged performance’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘No other disc, I imagine, has ever managed to be quite so scholarly and quite so erotic at the same time’ (The Guardian)
Fauré here writes his first cycle (given as Op 17 on the autograph). It has nothing of the architecture of the densely organized La bonne chanson with its network of cyclic borrowings and self-quotation. Rather is the Poème d’un jour a cycle in the manner of Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben where each song is an individual entity that depends for its cyclic effect on an implied narrative chronology. The Schumann cycle about a woman’s life and love unfolds over at least a year, possibly longer. Fauré sets tighter parameters: Poème d’un jour means what it says – this love affair, from meeting to parting, takes place in a single day. This fact alone limits the emotional range of the music; passion is illusory and impermanent, the rueful farewell marks the end of an affair so short that it cannot be taken any more seriously by the listener than it has been by the lovers themselves. A further factor in rendering the cycle lightweight is the versification of Grandmougin which matches the sentimentality found in the women’s magazines of the time. Is this a deliberate parody of Massenet’s highly successful series of ‘Poème’ cycles (four of which had been published by 1878) where the texts are equally saccharine? At the same time as despising Massenet’s populist touch, Fauré would not have turned his nose up at the commercial success of mélodies by the composer of Manon.

One is very tempted to see an autobiographical side to this little cycle which is perhaps nearer to Schumann’s Heine triptych Tragödie than to Frauenliebe und -leben. The manner of conducting an affair as outlined in this cycle seems curiously prophetic of the composer’s many liaisons. Fauré was caught in an unsatisfactory marriage (from 1883), but divorce was never contemplated (probably for the sake of the children). Nevertheless, his affairs were legendary – this examiner of the provincial conservatoires had a woman in every port. He was noted for his laconic charm, and he must have broken many hearts – particularly those of ladies who allowed themselves to imagine that he would leave his difficult wife having found ‘true love’. There were mistresses of protracted influence (Emma Bardac, Marguerite Hasselmans), but Fauré’s affairs were, on the whole, ‘poèmes d’un jour’ (or a few weeks) with a deft exit strategy. He must have been adept at charm (the first song), showing just enough glints of passion (the second), followed by something like the elegant retreat of the third. These extrications probably saved Fauré’s marriage and reputation (compare Debussy’s domestic linen washed in public), and increased his reputation for inscrutability.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 2005

Ce cycle, le premier de Fauré (marqué op.17 sur l’autographe), n’a rien de l’architecture de La bonne chanson, dont la structure dense s’appuie sur un réseau d’emprunts cycliques et d’autocitations. Non, le Poème d’un jour tient plutôt de la Frauenliebe und -leben de Robert Schumann, où chaque mélodie est une entité en soi, dont l’effet cyclique dépend d’une chronologie narrative implicite. Mais là où le cycle schumannien évoque la vie et l’amour d’une femme sur une année, voire davantage, Fauré met en musique des paramètres plus resserrés: Poème d’un jour dit bien ce qu’il veut dire, et cette histoire d’amour, de la rencontre à la séparation, tient en une seule journée. Ce qui suffit à restreindre la gamme émotionnelle de la musique: la passion est illusoire et impermanente, et l’adieu chagrin marque la fin d’une liaison si brève que l’auditeur ne saurait la prendre plus au sérieux que les amants eux-mêmes ne l’ont fait. Autre facteur de légèreté du cycle: la versification de Grandmougin, qui égale en sentimentalité les magazines féminins de l’époque. Faut-il y voir une parodie délibérée de la série à grand succès des cycles «Poème» de Massenet (dont quatre avaient été publiés en 1878), aux textes tout aussi sirupeux? Bien que méprisant la touche populiste de Massenet, Fauré n’eût pas dédaigné le succès commercial des mélodies du compositeur de Manon.

Il est fort tentant de trouver un côté autobiographique à ce petit cycle, qui tient peut-être plus du triptyque schumannien Tragödie, d’après Heine, que de la Fauenliebe une -leben. L’art de mener une liaison, tel qu’esquissé ici, semble curieusement prophétiser les nombreuses aventures du compositeur qui, bien qu’embarqué dans un mariage peu satisfaisant (à partir de 1883), n’envisagea jamais de divorcer (probablement pour le bien de ses enfants), mais multiplia des liaisons devenues légendaires—cet inspecteur des conservatoires de province avait une femme dans chaque port. Réputé pour son charme laconique, il dut briser bien des cœurs—surtout ceux des dames qui se permettaient de penser qu’ayant rencontré le «véritable amour» il quitterait son ombrageuse épouse. Hormis quelques maîtresses à l’influence plus durable (Emma Bardac, Marguerite Hasselmans), Fauré eut, dans l’ensemble, des liaisons—«poèmes d’un jour» (ou de quelques semaines), avec une habile stratégie de sortie. Il dut être un de ces maîtres du charme (première mélodie), qui dévoilent juste ce qu’il faut de lueurs de passion (deuxième mélodie), pour finir sur ce qui ressemble à l’élégante retraite de la troisième mélodie. Ces sorties sauvèrent probablement et le mariage de Fauré, et sa réputation (voyez Debussy et son linge sale lavé en public), renforçant son image d’homme insondable.

extrait des notes rédigées par Graham Johnson © 2005
Français: Hypérion

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