Claude Debussy (1862-1918):
En sourdine*
(No. 1 of Fetes Galantes, série I)
(composed in 1891; first published in 1903)
Text: Paul Verlaine
Original Key/Recorded Key: B Major
Teach-Track begins: m. 1
Accompaniment Track begins: m. 1
Pianist: Daniel Michalak
* Not to be confused with Debussy?s earlier (1882) and very different setting of the same text. That earlier version appears (under the same title) in Volume I of the Hal Leonard ?Vocal Library? edition of Debussy?s songs (Milwaukee, 1993, ed. James R. Briscoe). Perhaps to avoid just such a confusion, the EMI 3-CD recording of Debussy?s complete songs (?Intégrale des Mélodies,? featuring Elly Ameling, Frederica von Stade, Gérard Souzay, et al.) refers to the 1882 version by its first line of text, ?Calmes dans le demi-jour.?
Notes © 1999 by Daniel O. Michalak
En sourdine
Muted
Calmes dans le demi-jour
Calm in the half-light
Que les branches hautes font,
That the branches high create,
Pénétrons bien notre amour
Let us infuse deeply our love
De ce silence profond.
In this silence profound.
Fondons nos âmes, nos c?urs
Let us join our souls, our hearts
Et nos sens extasiés,
And our senses enraptured
Parmi les vagues langueurs
With the vague languor
Des pins et des arbousiers.
Of the pines and the strawberry trees.
Ferme tes yeux à demi,
Close your eyes to half,
Croise tes bras sur ton sein,
Cross your arms on your breast,
Et de ton c?ur endormi
And from your heart sleeping
Chasse à jamais tout dessein.
Drive away forever all intention.
Laissons-nous persuader
Let us surrender
Au souffle berceur et doux
To the breeze rocking and gentle
Qui vient, à tes pieds, rider
Which comes, to your feet, to ripple
Les ondes des gazons roux.
The waves of grasses red.
Et quand, solennel, le soir
And when, solemnly, the evening
Des chênes noirs tombera
From the oaks black will fall
Voix de notre désespoir,
The voice of our despair,
Le rossignol chantera.
The nightingale will sing.