Dalbavie Sonnets pt 6

The final sonnet from a new composition for orchestra and countertenor by Marc-Andre Dalbavie, premiered in Lyons in 2008. A setting of six sonnets by 16th century French poet Louise Labe (Sonnets V, II, VIII, XII, XV, III ). Live performance in Helsinki by Philippe Jaroussky and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dmitri Slobodeniouk, broadcast on March 26, 2008. The last 2 lines are repeated from Sonnet II.

O longs désirs, O esperances vaines,
Tristes soupirs et larmes coutumieres
A engendrer de moy maintes rivieres,
Dont mes deus yeus sont sources et fontaines :

O cruautez, o durtez inhumaines,
Piteus regars des celestes lumieres :
Du coeur transi o passions premieres,
Estimez vous croitre encore mes peines ?

Qu'encor Amour sur moy son arc essaie,
Que nouveaus feus me gette et nouveaus dars :
Qu'il se despite, et pis qu'il pourra face :

Car je suis tant navree en toutes pars,
Que plus en moy une nouvelle plaie,
Pour m'empirer ne pourroit trouver place.

O beaus yeus bruns, ô regars destournez,
O chaus soupirs, ô larmes espandues,

text from http://www2.ac-lyon.fr/enseigne/lettres/louise/sonnets/v.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Dalbavie
• Louise
• Labe
• Jaroussky
• Slobodeniouk

[beethoven75]

Thank you so much for posting those amazing pages... i heard it live in Paris in feb 2010, and it was a breathtaking shock... Of course, Jaroussky is amazingly involved in it...

[LydianAirs]

@beethoven75

Thanks so much for your comment! You're very lucky to have heard this live. I wonder how the rest of the audience received it?

"Amazingly involved" is the right description! You can feel the text come alive in his performance - he's really living the emotions of this woman...

[CaraPhilos]

Beautiful. Thank you for posting this! Good to know that there is contemporary music for countertenor voice, and that composers are inspired by PJ´s voirce.

[LydianAirs]

Thank you for your comments! He will be performing this piece again in Paris in February 2010, with Christoph Eschenbach conducting.

[npgcampos]

Dalbavie is a fantastic composer! Thank you very much!

[LydianAirs]

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!

[LydianAirs]

Yes, that's the one. He's been quite enthusiastic about it in his interviews! ;)

[grenouilleGG]

This is the one in which he's to play Caravaggio? That will ruin his reputation as an "angel"! (finally!)

[LydianAirs]

I agree, and PJ shows new dimensions in this impressive performance. It's an inspired marriage of singer and material. Dalbavie said in a radio interview that first he was frustrated in his attempt to compose this because he couldn't find the right voice; then he heard PJ in a Vivaldi concert and suddenly realised "I have found my girl!" :) (He was laughing rather charmingly as he said it!)

I hope some more composers write for PJ. I read that Suzanne Giraud was writing an opera for him.

[grenouilleGG]

Thanks for posting them so quickly! The voice that is Ariodante or Giustino, applied here to such different music (quite effectively, I think) -- it seems to show that the countertenor voice is a very appropriate instrument for modern work as well.