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.
?Banalités? is a song cycle of 5 pieces written in 1940, at the height of the second World War. The cycle is set to texts by Guillaume Apollinaire, as was his first set of songs ?Le Bestiaire,? also found on Virtually Vocal. A long time fan of the poet, Poulenc had been waiting until the time was right to set "Sanglots" and "Fagnes de Wallonie? and after rereading "Hôtel" and "Voyage à Paris" in old literary journals he decided the time was right.
Despite the fact that the title "Banalités" is translated to ?platitudes? or ?trifle things? in English, some of the poems are in fact deeply moving and heavy like ?Sanglots,? while others are indeed light-hearted and trivial like ?Voyages a Paris? and ?Hotel.?
Notre amour est réglé par les calmes étoiles
Our love is ruled by the calm stars
Or nous savons qu'en nous beaucoup d'hommes respirent
Now we know that within us many people breathe
Qui vinrent de trés loin et sont un sous nos fronts
Who came from far off and are one under our brows
C'est la chanson des rêveurs
It is the song of dreamers
Qui s'étaient arraché le coeur
Who have torn out their heart
Et le portaient dans la main droite...
And carries in the right hand...
Souviens-t'en cher orgueil de tous ces souvenirs
Remember dear pride all these memories
Des marins qui chantaient comme des conquérants.
Of the sailors who sang like the conquerors.
Des gouffres de Thulé, des tendres cieux d'Ophir
Of the chasms of Thule, of the soft skies of Ophir
Des malades maudits, de ceux qui fuient leur ombre
Of the sick ones accursed of those who fled their shadows
Et du retour joyeux des heureux émigrants.
And of the return joyous of the happy emigrants.
De ce coeur il coulait du sang
Of this heart that ran with blood
Et le rêveur allait pensant
And the dreamer went on thinking
À sa blessure délicate...
Of his wound delicate...
Tu ne briseras pas la chaîne de ces causes...
You not ever will break the chain of these causes...
Et douloureuse et nous disait:
And painful and to us said:
Qui sont les effets d'autres causes
Which are the effects of other causes
Mon pauvre coeur, mon coeur brisé
My poor heart, my heart broken
Pareil au coeur de tous les hommes...
Is similar to the hearts of all the men...
Voici nos mains que la vie fit esclaves
Here our hands which the life had enslaved
Est mort d'amour, ou c'est tout comme
Has dies of love, or so it seems
Est mort d'amour et le voici.
Has died of love and it is here
Ainsi vont toutes choses
So goes all things
Arrachez donc le vôtre aussi!
Tear out then yours also!
Et rien ne sera libre jusq'à la fin des temps
And nothing will be free until the end of time
Laissons tout aux morts
Let us leave all to the dead
Et cachons nos sanglots
And let us hide our sobs