Duparc’s celebrated song Chanson triste was first composed for voice and piano in 1868/9 and orchestrated in 1910/11, using 2 flutes, 4 horns, harp, and strings. The orchestration was premiered by the Montreux Casino Orchestra in Switzerland in 1911, near to where Duparc was then living. Duparc had stopped formal composing some years earlier, around 1885, following a period of mental illness and ongoing troubles with vision loss. The harp takes centre stage in the orchestration, through continuous arpeggiated chords which drive the song, while the other instruments add depth and colour. The poem’s central idea is the same as Rollinat’s Tes yeux bleus set by Chabrier—the poet hopes to find solace and recovery by looking deep into the eyes of a woman—and has clear resonance for Duparc’s own life experience.

from notes by Helen Abbott © 2023