Robert Herberigs : #4 from ' Poèmes Élégiaques '

Dans ce passé perdu quand son âme se noie,
Sur ce miroir brisé lorsqu'il rêve en pleurant,
(Souvenir, Alfred de Musset (1810-57))
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The extraordinary Flemish polymath Robert Herberigs (1886-1974) made successful careers as musician, artist (from the 1930s) and as poet and novelist. And he found time to establish an apricot plantation on his estate in Provence in the 1920s! As a musician, he studied at the Antwerp Royal Conservatory, and won the Belgian Prix de Rome (NB this is as per the Stichting Robert Herberigs website http://www.robertherberigs.be/ - the Wikipedia website for the Belgian Prix de Rome seems incomplete). He apparently wrote over 400 hours of music, including 20 piano sonatas, and his earlier piano works (like this one) were influenced by French impressionism - I think that anyone looking for musical similarities of style should probably look at Koechlin. This is a straightforward piece by Herberigs' standards, as it is mainly written on just two staves! A crude translation of the complete verse of de Musset's poem of which two lines are quoted by the composer is:

Bathing her wounds in the delicious past
That mirrors brokenly her loves again,
Thy cruel word her feeble joy would blast
And turn to bitter pain?

It is beyond me to explain this poem, so I have to let the music speak for itself. The complete poem can be seen at http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/alfred_de_musset/souvenir....
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk

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[PSearPianist]

@mistyrain83 That's great! Where I am in the UK it is very cold just now - so I wish I could find some music that would do the same for me!

[mistyrain83]

Every time I listen to your music, I feel very warm

[PSearPianist]

@RollaArtis I hope there will be more to come!

[PSearPianist]

@wolkowy1 Thank you. I suspect that most of his music is unpublished - and this piece was privately published! I too would like to know what his later music is like.

[RollaArtis]

Interesting harmonies - haven't heard of this composer, any more?

[wolkowy1]

I wonder what would be the sound in his later works, if this one is considered to be one of his earlier works. You can feel the modern harsh pain, even more than the French impressionism. It is not a light piece to be enjoyed, but I'm happy you uploaded it, in such a manner I believe the composer would agree to. Bravo and lots of thanks.