Victor Hugo never made the journey to the East. Yet his poems in 'Les orientales' give all the striking images that create the Eastern dream. In 1829, he also wanted to show what the cruel Turks did to the Greek people, particularly moving when it came to women and children. 'l'enfant' (which refers to Macbeth: 'O horror! Horror! Horror!)
is straightforward:
'les Turcs sont passés par là. Tout est ruine et deuil.'
A short poem intitled 'le ravin' has accents of contemporary cruelty , worldwar II, Bosniac war, any type of what is now refered to as 'ethnic conflict':
this was written in april 1828:
- Un ravin de ces monts coupe la noire crête ;
- Comme si, voyageant du Caucase au Cédar,
- Quelqu'un de ces Titans que nul rempart n'arrête
- Avait fait passer sur leur tête
- La roue immense de son char.
- Hélas ! combien de fois, dans nos temps de discorde,
- Des flots de sang chrétien et de sang mécréant,
- Baignant le cimeterre et la miséricorde,
- Ont changé tout à coup en torrent qui déborde
- Cette ornière d'un char géant !
No wonder V. Hugo is called a 'visionnaire'.
The climax of it all, for me, was the melody 'Albaydé' on the poem 'les tronçons du serpent'.
The young tenor was all in dark grey, with Japanese-looking hair hiding his forehead and nearly his long dark eyes. He was already in mourning.
His voice was softly sobbing his dead love, the song only uses eight verses of the poem and sounds like a lamento for the death of the young girl, the voice gets really forte on an added 'Ah!' which was tremendously loud and coming from his heart; I wish, as often, I could listen to him again! I was moved to tears. He was applauded quite a lot .
I do not know how I managed to thank him at the end of the recital, but I did.
He did invite me without really knowing me, so I had to pluck up courage and go!
Another very moving part was 'le voile', for mezzo and tenor, by Marie-Jaël, who was a woman composer and piano-teacher (she could fairly well have met V.Hugo). Her melody is tragic, short and modern, another contemporary vision! The veil, here, responsible for her slaughter by her brothers, is now politically discussed in every country in Europe, a symbol of what is the opposite of women's freedom which is the least I can say on that matter.
The pianist played two of her compositions, I enjoyed the poetic 'Barcelone notes bleues'. There was a creation too, which I appreciated a lot, 'Clair de lune' for mezzo with a contemporary melody. The mezzo was far more intense and true in this melody. At the end, she thanked the musician who stood up and was applauded: David de Gasca, on the programme with Widor, Berlioz, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Viardot, Satie, Villa-Lobos, Marie-Jaël, Granados and the pianist: Sylvia Renard.
Soprano:Benedicte Albanhac
Mezzo-soprano: Anne Moretti
Ténor: Benoît Deney
Récitant: Jean-pierre Lesage.
This rich musical afternoon ended with an encore: from the first part 'J'étais seul près des flots'
for soprano and mezzo (on the poem 'extase') very romantic and with a passage ' à l'unisson'.
I would have prefered, Albaydé' or 'le voile' but still it was a sweet ending!
I noticed it was crowded and that around me the people all seemed to know each other; as often I was an outsider!
So I am deeply grateful to the young tenor for his invitation and to my personal calendar for being free in Paris that afternoon!
I came out in bright sunshine and took a photo with my old camera... which decided that the vaultings of the Place des Vosges should have some tinges of Samarkand...
What is amazing is to find track of this concert, here, I am so pleased !
www.sylvia-renard.com
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