Hahn, a Venezuelan born composer and singer, was naturalized in France and wrote in the classic "mélodie" style. "Chanson grises" was written in 1893 and set to a series of poems by Paul Verlaine, a poet whose work was used extensively by Hahn and many other French composers. The songs are accessible and charming, made so by Hahn?s traditional harmonic progressions standard formal structures.
La lune blanche
The moon White
Luit dans les bois;
Shines in the woods;
De chaque branche
From each branch
Part une voix
Comes a voice
Sous la ramée...
Beneath the boughs...
Ô bien aimée.
Oh good loved-one.
L'étang reflète,
The pool reflects,
Profond miroir,
Deeply mirrored,
La silhouette du saule noir
The silhouette of the willow black
Où le vent pleure...
Where the wind weeps...
Rêvons, c'est l'heure.
Let us dream, it is the hour.
Un vaste et tendre
A vast and tender
Apaisement
Appeasement
Semble descendre
Seems to descend
Du firmament
From the sky
Que l'astre irise...
That the star makes iridescent
C'est l'heure exquise.
It is the hour exquisite!