Claude Debussy (1862-1918):
L?ombre des arbres
(No. 3 of Ariettes oubliées)
(composed in 1885; first published in 1903)
Text: Paul Verlaine
Original Key/Recorded Key: C-sharp Major
Teach-Track begins: m. 1
Accompaniment Track begins: m. 1
Pianist: Daniel Michalak
N. B. On the EMI 3-CD ?Intégrale des Mélodies? recording of this piece, the pianist Dalton Baldwin (possibly working from a faulty edition) mistakenly plays the G-sharp Minor LH chords as B Major chords (i.e., a third too high).
Notes © 1999 by Daniel O. Michalak
L?ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée
The shade of the trees in the river misty
Meurt comme de la fumée,
Dies like smoke
Tandis qu?en l?air, parmi les ramures réelles,
While in the air, among the branches real,
Se plaignent les tourterelles.
Complain the doves.
Combien ô voyageur, ce paysage blême
How, O traveler, this landscape pale
Te mira blême toi-même,
You reflected, pale yourself,
Et que tristes pleuraient dans les hautes feuillées,
And how sadly crying in the high leaves,
tes espérances noyées.
your hopes drowned. (and how sadly your drowned hopes wept)