Mezzo- Soprano Vocals: Janet Baker
Orchestra: New Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli
Composer: Hector Berlioz
Poet: Théophile Gautier
Les nuits d’été (Summer Nights), Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It is a setting of six poems by Théophile Gautier. The cycle, completed in 1841, was originally for soloist and piano accompaniment. Berlioz orchestrated one of the songs in 1843, and did the same for the other five in 1856. The cycle was neglected for many years, but during the 20th century it became, and has remained, one of the composer’s most popular works. The full orchestral version is more frequently performed in concert and on record than the piano original. The theme of the work is the progress of love, from youthful innocence to loss and finally renewal.
“Sur les lagunes: Lamento” (On the Lagoons: Lament), with its sombre harmonies and orchestration is imbued with melancholy; the undulating accompaniment suggests the movement of the waves. The poem is the lament of a Venetian boatman at the loss of his beloved, and the pain of sailing out to sea unloved. This is the second of the two through-composed songs in the cycle.
Ma belle amie est morte :
Je pleurerai toujours
Sous la tombe elle emporte
Mon âme et mes amours.
Dans le ciel, sans m’attendre,
Elle s’en retourna ;
L’ange qui l’emmena
Ne voulut pas me prendre.
Que mon sort est amer !
Ah ! sans amour s’en aller sur la mer !
My beautiful friend is dead,
I shall weep always;
Under the tomb she has taken
My soul and my love.
To Heaven, without waiting for me,
She has returned;
The angel who took her
Did not want to take me.
How bitter is my fate!
Ah! Without love to sail on the sea!
La blanche créature
Est couchée au cercueil.
Comme dans la nature
Tout me paraît en deuil !
La colombe oubliée
Pleure et songe à l’absent ;
Mon âme pleure et sent
Qu’elle est dépareillée !
Que mon sort est amer !
Ah ! sans amour s’en aller sur la mer !
The white creature
Lies in a coffin;
How in nature
Everything seems to me in mourning!
The forgotten dove
Weeps and dreams of the absent one.
My soul weeps and feels
That it is deserted!
How bitter is my fate!
Ah! Without love to sail on the sea!
Sur moi la nuit immense
S’étend comme un linceul ;
Je chante ma romance
Que le ciel entend seul.
Ah ! comme elle était belle
Et comme je l’aimais !
Je n’aimerai jamais
Une femme autant qu’elle.
Que mon sort est amer !
Ah ! sans amour s’en aller sur la mer !
Over me the vast night
Spreads like a shroud.
I sing my song
That only Heaven hears:
Ah! How beautiful she was
And how I loved her!
I shall never love
A woman as much as her…
How bitter is my fate!
Ah! Without love to sail on the sea!
Discord: hectoroftroy