Trois mélodies is a set of mélodie

Mélodie

Mélodie refers to French art songs of the mid-19th century to the present; it is the French equivalent of the German Lied. It is distinguished from a chanson, which is a folk or popular song.-Nature of the mélodie:...

s for solo voice and piano, by Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Fauré

Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...

. It includes Après un rêve (Op. 7, No. 1), one of Faure's most popular vocal pieces, Hymne (Op. 7, No. 2), and Barcarolle (Op. 7, No. 3). The songs were written between 1870 and 1878.

Après un rêve

In Après un rêve, a dream of romantic elopement with a lover, away from darkness, and towards an awakening light is described. However, the dreamer longs to return to the "mysterious night". The text of the poem is an anonymous Italian poem translated to French by Romain Bussine

Romain Bussine

Romain Bussine was a French poet, baritone, and voice teacher who lived during the 19th century.In 1871, together with Camille Saint-Saëns and Henri Duparc, he founded the Société Nationale de Musique as a forum for promoting contemporary French chamber and orchestral music...

.

French

English

Après un rêve Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage, Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et sonore, Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par l'aurore; Tu m'appelais et je quittais la terre Pour m'enfuir avec toi vers la lumière, Les cieux pour nous entr'ouvraient leurs nues, Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines entrevues, Hélas! Hélas! triste réveil des songes Je t'appelle, ô nuit, rends moi tes mensonges, Reviens, reviens radieuse, Reviens ô nuit mystérieuse!

After a dream In a slumber enchanted by your image I dreamt of happiness, passionate mirage, Your eyes were softer, your voice pure and resonant, You shone like a sky lit up by the dawn; You called me and I left the earth To run away with you towards the light, The skies opened their clouds for us, Unknown splendours, divine flashes glimpsed, Alas! Alas! sad awakening from dreams I call you, O night, give me back your lies, Return, return radiant, Return, O mysterious night!

Hymne

Hymne is set to a poem by Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...

. The meaning of the text in Hymne is vague to those not aware of Baudelaire's ongoing theme of paradox (as the meaning is quite apparent in his other works): the spirituality of what is sensual and the sensuality of what is sanctified. Faure's setting of the text centers subtly around this idea. Hymne, just like Après un rêve, retains an ethereal mood. The unchanged harmonic motion after "Forever hail!" indicates the entrance to the untroubled world of spirituality. After the word "sel" which literally means salt but in this case refers figuratively to something engaging, the harmony begins to change. Under a soft, but highly chromatic piano line the stanza

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

 about "incorruptible love" brings the song to a dramatic climax. After this stint, the piece returns to its tranquil state; however, the piece does end with the melody's tonic

Tonic (music)

In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord...

 note and the piano's leading tone clashing for a stunning effect. The phrase "Sachet tojours frais...travers la nuit" is omitted by Faure.

French

English

Hymne À la très chère, à la très belle, Qui remplit mon coeur de clarté, À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle, Salut en immortalité, Salut en immortalité! Elle se répand dans ma vie, Comme un air imprégné de sel, Et dans mon âme inassouvie, Verse le goût de l'Eternel. Sachet toujours frais qui parfume l'athmosphère d'un cher réduit, encensoir oublié qui fume en secret à travers la nuit. Comment, amor incorruptible, T'exprimer avec vérité? Grain de musc, qui gîs invisible, Au fond de mon éternité? À la [très bonne], à la très-belle, Qui remplit mon coeur de clarté, À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle, Salut en immortalité, Salut en immortalité!

Hymn To the very dear one, the very lovely one, Who fills my heart with brightness, To the angel, the deathless idol, Forever hail, Forever hail! She pervades my life Like a salt-filled breeze, And into my unsatisfied soul Pours the taste of the eternal. [Sachet ever-fresh that perfumes The air of a beloved recess, Forgotten cencer that smokes In secret through the night.] Incorruptible love, How to express the truth of you? Grain of musk, that lies unseen At the bottom of my eternity? To the very good one, the very lovely one, Who fills my heart with brightness, To the angel, the deathless idol, Forever hail, Forever hail!

Barcarolle

The text for the third piece in the set, Barcarolle, was written by Marc Monnier

Marc Monnier

Marc Monnier was a French writer.Monnier was born at Florence. His father was French, and his mother a Genevese; he received his early education in Naples, he then studied in Paris and Geneva, and he completed his education at Heidelberg and Berlin. He became professor of comparative literature at...

. This piece remains typical of barcarolle

Barcarolle

A barcarole is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style...

 form by using the buoyant flow of a 6/8 time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

. Throughout the song, the rhythmic figure, which consists of an eighth note

Eighth note

thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....

 tied

Tie (music)

In music notation, a tie is a curved line connecting the heads of two notes of the same pitch, indicating that they are to be played as a single note with a duration equal to the sum of the individual notes' note values...

 to three triplet

Tuplet

In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...

 sixteenth notes, followed by another eighth note, is passed between the voice and the piano.

French

English

Barcarolle Gondolier du Rialto Mon château c'est la lagune, Mon jardin c'est le Lido. Mon rideau le clair de lune. Gondolier du grand canal, Pour fanal j'ai la croisée Où s'allument tous les soirs, Tes yeux noirs, mon épousée. Ma gondole est aux heureux, Deux à deux je la promène, Et les vents légers et frais Sont discret sur mon domaine. J'ai passé dans les amours, Plus de jours et de nuits folles, Que Venise n'a d'ilots Que ses flots n'ont de gondoles.

Barcarolle I am a Gondolier of Rialto; my castle is the lagoon, and my garden is the Lido. My curtains are the light of the moon. I am a Gondolier of the Great Canal: as a beacon I have the window illuminated every night by your dark eyes, my wife. My gondola is for the happy, and I take them out two by two; and the light, fresh breezes are discreet in my domain. I have passed in my love more intoxicated days and nights than Venice has islands, than even its streams have gondolas.