Le dromadaire

Le dromadaire

By: Poulenc
Voice Type(s): Baritone,Bass,Tenor,Mezzo,Soprano

Melody
C
Full
C

Francis Poulenc was a member of the collection of French composers known as ?Les Six,? a group whose music is seen as a rejection of the overly emotional Romantic period. Poulenc?s music is for the most part tonal and diatonic, but maintains the bright colors and strong rhythms of many of his predecessors like Satie and Stravinsky. 

?Le Bestiaire? is the first instance of many in which Poulenc employs the poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire. All the short songs in this light-hearted cycle are about animals, hence the title which translates to ?bestiary? in English, meaning a collection of moralized fables relating to animals. Poulenc does an excellent job of word painting in this cycle, from evoking the murky depths of the ocean in ?L'Écrevisse" (The Crayfish) through unmoving bass drones and modal shifts to characterizing the ungainly camels in ?Le Dromadaire? (The Camel) through the falling bass lines and a march-like melody.
    

Avec ses quatre dromadaires
With his four dromedaries 

Don Pedro d'Alfaroubeira
Don Pedro of Alfarrobeira 

Courut le monde et l'admira.
Roamed the world and admired it. 

Il fit ce que je voudrais faire
He did that which I would like to do

Si j'avais quatre dromadaires.
If I had four dromedaries.