Research Song Concert

Chanson d’automne 

The violins of autumn wound my heart, I follow the sick, pounding winds, like a dead leaf. 

​

Je n’ai vécu qu’une heure 

I have only lived for an hour and yet I am old. Next to my beauty, I have lost the illusion of eternity, I can sigh no more, it is the best way to die. 

​

La délaissée 

I didn’t know it could be sweet to remember you after so many days of misery. We are loved and we love again, that is the best of ourselves. 

​

Le Printemps 

You are here, you laughing spring! Bunches of lilacs are blossoming. Lovers free their flowing hair. Let us lie beside ponds and let our hopes nourish our fluttering heart. 

​

Le Rondel de la petite église 

Your bell tower, o small church, rose at the edge of the path, fragile brunches of jasmine offer an exquisite scent. Hope takes me by the hand, I will return tomorrow to see it at an undecided hour. 

​

Barcarolle de Majorque 

Ole, Ola, my spaniard comes with me, with red lips and eyes to damn the saint. Come into the feverish city where I have my dwelling, far away from the sickening moonlights. 

​

Tristesse 

I remember a certain evening where the calm and charming stream mirrored the moon. Each love had its echo: the moon the water, the tree the bird. I would have given all my life to press a friendly hand. 

​

L’Invitation au voyage 

My child, my sister, think how sweet to travel there and live together! To love and die together in the land that resembles you. There – nothing dwells but order and beauty, abundance, calm and sensual delight! 

​

Passagère 

I dreamed of knocking incessantly one night at your door until you opened up, of being sweet and fervent at your joy, reaching my hands towards the great fire that reflects blue onto my hair. Don’t interrupt this immense grief as I go far away to die by my silence. 

​

L’Echo de grands bois 

I cried out with an exhausted heart in the mysterious forest: life is hard, heavy and hate is growing within me. The echo of the great forest replied:“love, sing, believe”. I am now happy on earth. 

​

Chanson des sirènes 

Poor bitter heart, dissolve in the wave’s fragile foam, soar up into the blue sky, you shall have God’s peace. 

​

Berceuse de la sirène 

Dance with us in the beautiful ocean, plunge with us in the clear waves, sea – rock us in your quivering arms and caressing heart. 

​

Chanson de la poire 

This is the story of a pear, you pick it from the leaves, tap it… we must toast it and drink deeply, and that’s all! 

​

Air de Conchita 

Conchita expresses her love for nature and every season, but the one she prefers above all is the summer. 

​

Air de Soleda 

Soleda sings this lullaby to her troubled son, a similar song she used to sing to him when he was a little boy. 

​

Ils ont tué trois petites filles 

They have slain three little girls to see what is in their hearts. The first was full of happiness, the second was full of gentleness and the third was full of misery. Everywhere their blood flowed. Three archangels for three years kept watch. 

​​

Abends auf dem Fluss 

Alone on a river at dusk, finding comfort in the rising moon and its reflection on the water; it is a song about spiritual peace and release from sorrow. 

​

Drei Prinzessinnen 

Three princesses pray for their deepest desires, but the gods remain silent. Their beauty fades and their sorrow deepens, expressing the futility of longing and the quiet tragedy of being unheard. 

​

O Living flame of love | Ah! Who can cure me 

This song cycle, composed in 1986, sets English translations of poems by St John of the Cross, translated by Howard Myers, the composer’s partner. 

​

Vor meinem Fenster 

A bird sings outside the window, stirring memories of childhood and lost innocence, it is a moment of quiet reflection and nostalgia. 

​​​

Es spinnt sich ein 

The song reflects on the loneliness and tragic fate in an ever changing world. 

​

Komm, sũsser Tod 

A yearning for the peace that comes with death, yearning for its gentle release from the weariness of life.