The Henri de Regnier Songsfor voice and piano
Quatre poèmes, opus 3Quatre poèmes, opus 8La Menace, opus 9
Early in his musical career, Roussel wrote three sets of songs to the poems of Henri de Regnier; he also wrote one of the four movements of Joueurs de flutes about a character in a de Regnier novel. Roussel's biographer, Basil Deane, has this to say about de Regnier:
The enormous vogue enjoyed by Henri de Regnier at the beginning of this century is one of those literary success stories which, however explicable in their context, never fail to astonish later generations, who marvel at the poor taste of their ancestors.... His use of imagery is, in the great bulk of his work, a purely literary device, expressive of nothing at all. Perhaps not unexpectedly, then, few of the songs Roussel wrote to de Regnier's texts have won a place in the repertoire — with the exception of one unequivocal masterpiece, Le Jardin mouillé. |
Quatre poèmes, opus 3for voice and piano| Written: 1903 | Premiered: Paris, April 21, 1906 Jane Bathori (s), Alfred Cortot (piano) |
| Length: No. 1, 2 minutes No. 2, 3 minutes No. 3, 3 minutes No. 4, 5 minutes |
Four melodies: Le Départ Voeu Le Jardin mouillé Madrigal lyrique |
| Words by: Henri de Regnier |
Voice(s): No. 1, soprano No. 2-4, middle |
| Publisher: Rouart Lerolle |
Dedication: No. 1, Mme Jeanne Raunay No. 2, Mlle Mary Garden No. 3, Maurice Bages No. 4, Mme Albert Groz |
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It is entirely fitting that the first set of Roussel's songs opens with the recurring theme that runs like a leitmotiv throughout his mélodies: leave-taking. Number one of this group, Le Départ, has as its leave-taker a sailor heading out to sea, uncertain whether he will manage to return home. Again, an especially appropriate theme for the ex-sailor Roussel.
The most successful of this group of mélodies — indeed, of any of the mélodies Roussel wrote to Regnier's poems — is Le Jardin mouillé, which also happens (by no coincidence) to be the least pretentious of the texts. Even here, however, the music feels "busy" compared to the masterful (and characteristic) simplicity of later songs such as Sarabande or Réponse d'une épouse sage.
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What does it sound like?| Roussel's early music is much more likely to be "pictorial" than is his later music. For example, in Le Jardin mouillé (The Garden in the Rain) the piano accompaniment beautifully captures the effect of gently falling rain. Click here to listen to Roussel himself playing the piano (61K WAV file) in an early recording sung by the famous Claire Croiza. |
Other opinions|
Le Depart is 'through-composed', and the melodic phrases are not repeated.... The asymmetrical curves, the close intervals, the repeated notes and the even flow of the rhythm impart something of the character of a stylised chant, and the almost total absence of appoggiaturas and auxilliary notes implies an emotional objectivity which belies the bravado and sentimentality of the poem. This austerity leads occasionally to rigidity. [Basil Deane]
The main piece in this collection is without doubt Le Jardin mouillé. Admittedly, the piano is somewhat reminiscent of Ravel's Jeux d'eau, but what a perfect match between this accompaniment and the melodic line, and between these two and the text, itself of an admirable poetic vein, so subtle in its vocal tone, colours and rhythms. [Dom Angelico Surchamp] This pretty poem [Le Jardin mouillé] inspired the musician to write a very beautiful mélodie of exquisite subtlety... which is rewarding for both singer and pianist, who should be able to achieve an extremely poetic atmosphere. [Pierre Bernac] [Le Jardin mouillé] is a remarkable little picture of its subject whose painting is far more defined than the famous "Jardins sous la Pluie" of Debussy, which might be anything else. [Norman Demuth]
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Quatre poèmes, opus 8for voice and piano| Written: 1907 | Premiered: Paris, January 11, 1908 Jane Bathori, Roussel (piano) |
| Length: No. 1, 5 minutes No. 2, 3 minutes No. 3, 3 minutes No. 4, 5 minutes |
Four melodies: Adieux Invocation Nuit d'automne Odelette |
| Words by: Henri de Regnier |
Voice(s): No. 1, soprano No. 2, contralto No, 3, middle No. 4, soprano |
| Publisher: Rouart Lerolle |
Dedication: No. 1, Paul Poujaud No. 2, Jane Bathori No. 3, Emile Engle No. 4, Mme Octave Maus |
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Like the songs of opus 3, these songs open with the familiar Rousselian theme of leave-taking. And not just a single leave-taking: Adieux, one of Roussel's longer songs, catalogues a veritable plethora of good-byes.
The remaining pieces are all songs of love. Number two, Invocation, has the least sentimental words and is also the most successful mélodie. Number three, Nuit d'automne, paints a picture of a pastoral scene in which the focus is on a lover who is described through comparisons to trees and water. The last mélodie, Odelette, is perhaps the most overtly pretentious poem of Regnier's that Roussel set to music. The sentimentality and "prettiness" of the images in the love poem are far removed from Roussel's true spirit of subtlety and restraint. As a group, these songs suffer the same weaknesses as the songs of opus 3. Perhaps the most interesting song here is Invocation. Like the most successful song of opus 3, Le Jardin mouillé, the subject here is a garden at evening — a setting that must have resonated deeply with Roussel, as we find it yet again Le festin de l'araignée, which ends with a piece entitled "Night falls on the empty garden". |
Other opinions|
What is striking here [in Invocation], aside from the deliberate simplicity of the accompaniment, is the piano interlude between the four verses, an interlude which combines with the piano part in the last quatrain. [Dom Angelico Surchamp]
The spare keyboard writing in Invocation recalls late Faure; but the flavour of the slightly angular melody and the harmony is peculiar to Roussel. [Basil Deane] "Adieux" is an ambitious affair and is of considerable length. [Norman Demuth] This is followed by Nuit d'automne, a descriptive piece in the manner of Jardin mouillé. Here, the music changes from broad and solemn in the opening and closing parts, to light in the middle section. [Dom Angelico Surchamp] |
La Menace, opus 9for voice and piano or orchestra| Written: 1908 | Premiered: Paris, March 11, 1911 Emile Engel; L. Hasselmans, cond. |
| Length: 7 minutes | One mélodie |
| Words by: Henri de Regnier | Voice: middle |
| Publisher: Rouart Lerolle | Dedication: Mme Gustave Samazeuilh |
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At 7+ minutes, La Menace (The Threat) is Roussel's longest mélodie and the first one written with an orchestral accompaniment. (He later created a piano version.) It is also one of the first of his works to hint at the powerfully expressed violence that later bore such magnificent fruit in the opera-ballet Padmavati.
Unlike most of the other poems of Regnier's that Roussel used, La Menace is not prettified love song ill suited to the composer's temperament. The word "threat" really doesn't capture the spirit of the work; it is more of a long curse, or hex, invoked by a unrequited lover. |
Other opinions|
La Menace is more promising [than the other de Regnier songs], however, and in it there is the first sign of a Roussel hall-mark in the rapid crushing semitonal figure which appears in the ballets Bacchus et Ariane and Aeneas. There is a vigour and a depth of thought about this setting which is absent from the previous ones. [Norman Demuth]
The work resorts to a dramatic idiom not only justified by the text but also by the use of the orchestra.... The jerky, hesitant opening reflects an instability well suited to the sense of agitation in this poem, one ultimately closing on a note of calm and peace. [Dom Angelico Surchamp]
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