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Ô saisons, ô châteaux
I - Ô saisons, ô châteaux (O seasons, o chateaux…)
for Soprano, String Quartet and Electronic keyboards
To Poems by Arthur Rimbaud
(full cycle duration circa 15 minutes)
Text: I - Ô saisons, ô châteaux (O seasons, o chateaux…)
Ô saisons, ô châteaux
Quelle âme est sans défauts?
Ô saisons, ô châteaux,
J’ai fait la magique etude
Du Bonheur, que nul n’élude.
Ô vive lui, chaque fois
Que chante son coq Gaulois
Mais! Je n’aurai plus d’envie,
Il s’est chargé de ma vie.
Ce Charme! Il prit âme et corps
Et dispersa tous efforts.
Que comprendre á ma parole?
Il fait qu’elle fuie et vole!
Ô saisons, ô châteaux!
[Et, si le malheur m’entraîne,
Sa disgrace m’est certaine.
Il faut que son dédain, las!
Me livre au plus prompt trépas!
- Ô Saisons, ô Châteaux!
Quelle âme est sans défauts?
English Translation:
O seasons, o chateaux…
Which soul has no flaw?
O seasons, o chateaux…
I’ve made the magic study
Of happiness, no one evades.
Long live happiness, each time
The Gallic cockerel crows.
But! I’ve finished with wanting,
It’s taken my life over.
That spell! Took soul and body,
And wasted all effort.
What to make of my words?
It would have them take flight.
O seasons, o chateaux!
[And, if I’m unlucky,
I’ll surely know ruin.
Its disregard, alas!
Must bring me instant death!
- O Seasons, o Chateaux!
Which soul has no flaw?
Note:
The poetry of Arthur Rimbaud has long fascinated me, and this is not the first time I’ve set his poems. The innate symbolism that permeates every sentence is manna from heaven to me – as my own music is steeped in symbolism. Ô saisons, ô châteaux sets Rimbaud’s famous poem of the same name as well as a nonsense poem and another from his equally well-known Illuminations.
As an aside, the sound of the glass harmonica has always fascinated me ever since I heard a recording of Mozart’s famous Adagio and Rondo. There is an inevitable beguiling enchantment this extraordinary instrument creates. However, this instrument is seriously limited in what it can do and it takes something extra to make it ‘virtuoso’. Fortunately, the use of modern day sound sampling means that one can create a ‘virtual’ virtuoso glass harmonica. The pianist plays a keyboard which now sounds like a vast instrument that Mozart would surely have adored!
The first song alludes to feelings of nostalgia and life changes, yet inhabits a labyrinthine maze where one is constantly trying to discover the truth. The music is derived from Rameau’s opera Castor and Pollux (all about the Gemini twins). It is the funeral music, where one twin knows he has to live without the other – and inevitably gains strength from it. Hence the baroque nature of the music. The text of the second setting of nonsense verse reveals an essential element: the inevitable ridiculousness that people apply to ‘names’. This song is my homage to those inspiring masters. The final song is all about the importance and relevance of friendship above all things, and is thus set simply and directly.
© Paul Max Edlin 2009
This is a live recording of the world premiere given in April 2009 by the soprano Olga Pasichnyk with the Silesian Quartet and Maciej Grzybowski. Grateful thanks to Olga Pasichnyk for granting permission to make this recording available on Soundcloud.
- Genre
- Voice and Ensemble