Sérénade

Mixed choir, 8.5 minutes


I was commissioned by musica intima to write this piece for a concert that would feature compositions by the group Les Six. The text I chose by the French poet, Paul Verlaine, links nicely to Les Six and the school of Nadia Boulanger.

Reviews:

"Craig Galbraith's Sérénade is a setting of a dark symbolist love poem by Verlaine. Sombre, full of soft attenuated lines, delicate dissonances, close harmonies and sliding pitches, it's a rarefied piece of writing, and its rich part-work and atmosphere were beautifully drawn out by the singers."
-Lloyd Dykk, Vancouver Sun, Feb 19th.

"A highlight of the concert was the world premiere of Sérénade by the young Vancouver composer Craig Galbraith. With its riverlike melodies flowing through an ocean of jarring dissonances, it brought a rich and colourful vibrancy to a morbid lovepoem by Paul Verlaine."
-Douglas Hughes, The Georgia Straight


Premiered February 11, 2001 at West Vancouver United Church, B.C.



musica intima, vocal ensemble



Recording
(begins very quietly)

Sérénade
Paul Verlaine

Comme la voix d'un mort qui chanterait
Du fond de sa fosse,
Maîtresse, entends monter vers ton retrait
Ma voix aigre et fausse.
Sérénade
-translation by Marc Trottier

Like the voice of a corpse who would sing
From the bottom of its grave,
Mistress, hear my shrill and hollow voice
Rise up towards your domain.
Ouvre ton âme et ton oreille au son
De la mandoline:
Pour toi j'ai fait, pour toi, cette chanson
Cruelle et câline.
Open your soul and your ear to the sound
Of the mandolin:
I made this song for you,
This cruel and tender song.
Je chanterai tes yeux d'or et d'onyx
Purs de toutes ombres,
Puis le Léthé de ton sein, puis le Styx
De tes cheveux sombres.
I will sing about your eyes of gold and onyx,
Free of any shadow,
And I will sing about the Lethe of your bosom,
And about the Styx of your dark hair.
Comme la voix d'un mort qui chanterait
Du fond de sa fosse,
Maîtresse, entends monter vers ton retrait
Ma voix aigre et fausse.
Like the voice of a corpse who would sing
From the bottom of its grave,
Mistress, hear my shrill and hollow voice
Rise up towards your domain.
Puis je louerai beaucoup, comme il convient,
Cette chair bénie
Dont le parfum opulent me revient
Les nuits d'insomnie.
And I will much praise, as it is appropriate,
This blessed flesh
Whose opulent fragrance I remember
During sleepless nights.
Et pour finir, je dirai le baiser
De ta lèvre rouge,
Et ta douceur à me martyriser,
--Mon Ange! --ma Gouge!
And to finish, I will speak of kissing
Your red lips,
And your softness that tortures me,
- My Angel! - My wench!
Ouvre ton âme et ton oreille au son
De ma mandoline:
Pour toi j'ai fait, pour toi, cette chanson
Cruelle et câline.
Open your soul and your ear to the sound
Of the mandolin:
I made this song for you,
This cruel and tender song.