''Trois mélodies'' is a set of

mélodie A ''mélodie'' () is a form of French art song, arising in the mid-19th century. It is comparable to the German ''Lied''. A ''chanson'', by contrast, is a folk or popular French song. The literal meaning of the word in the French language is "melod ...

s for solo voice and piano, by Gabriel Fauré. It consists of "Après un rêve" (Op. 7, No. 1), one of Faure's most popular vocal pieces, "Hymne" (Op. 7, No. 2), and "Barcarolle" (Op. 7, No. 3). The songs were written between 1870 and 1877, and published in 1878. They were not, however, originally conceived together as a set of three; the

opus number In musicology, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's production. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among composit ...

7 was imposed on them retrospectively in the 1890s, almost 20 years after their first publications.

"Après un rêve"

In "Après un rêve" (''After a dream''), a dream of romantic flight with a lover, away from the earth and "towards the light", is described. However, upon awakening, the dreamer longs to return to the "mysterious night" and the ecstatic falsehood of his dream. The text of the poem is an anonymous Italian poem freely adapted into French by

Romain Bussine Romain Bussine (4 November 1830 – 20 December 1899) was a French voice teacher, singer, translator and poet active in the second half of the 19th century. Career He was born in Paris; and from the late 1860s until his death Bussine was pr ...

. Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image Je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage, Tes yeux étaient plus doux, ta voix pure et sonore, Tu rayonnais comme un ciel éclairé par l'aurore; Tu m'appelais et je quittais la terre Pour m'enfuir avec toi vers la lumière, Les cieux pour nous entr'ouvraient leurs nues, Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines entrevues, Hélas! Hélas! triste réveil des songes Je t'appelle, ô nuit, rends-moi tes mensonges, Reviens, reviens radieuse, Reviens ô nuit mystérieuse!Après un rêve (The LiederNet Archive)
Accessed February 13, 2008.

"Hymne"

"Hymne" is set to a poem by

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...

. The meaning of the text in "Hymne" is vague to those not aware of Baudelaire's ongoing theme of paradox (as the meaning is quite apparent in his other works): the spirituality of what is sensual and the sensuality of what is sanctified. Fauré's setting of the text centers subtly around this idea. "Hymne", just like "Après un rêve", retains an ethereal mood. The unchanged harmonic motion after "Forever hail!" indicates the entrance to the untroubled world of spirituality. After the word "sel" which literally means salt but in this case refers figuratively to something engaging, the harmony begins to change. Under a soft, but highly chromatic piano line the stanza about "incorruptible love" brings the song to a dramatic climax. After this stint, the piece returns to its tranquil state. However, the piece does end with the melody's tonic note and the piano's

leading tone In music theory, a leading-tone (also called a subsemitone, and a leading-note in the UK) is a note or pitch which resolves or "leads" to a note one semitone higher or lower, being a lower and upper leading-tone, respectively. Typically, ''the ...

clashing for a stunning effect. The phrase "Sachet toujours frais...travers la nuit" is omitted by Faure. À la très chère, à la très belle, Qui remplit mon coeur de clarté, À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle, Salut en immortalité, Salut en immortalité! Elle se répand dans ma vie, Comme un air imprégné de sel, Et dans mon âme inassouvie, Verse le goût de l'Eternel. Sachet toujours frais qui parfume l'athmosphère d'un cher réduit, encensoir oublié qui fume en secret à travers la nuit. Comment, amor incorruptible, T'exprimer avec vérité? Grain de musc, qui gîs invisible, Au fond de mon éternité? À la rès bonne à la très-belle, Qui remplit mon coeur de clarté, À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle, Salut en immortalité, Salut en immortalité!Hymne (The LiederNet Archive)
Accessed February 13, 2008.

"Barcarolle"

The text for the third piece in the set, "Barcarolle", was written by

Marc Monnier Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

. This piece remains typical of

barcarolle A barcarolle (; from French, also barcarole; originally, Italian barcarola or barcaruola, from ''barca'' 'boat') is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the mo ...

form by using the buoyant flow of a 6/8

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...

. Throughout the song, the rhythmic figure, which consists of an

eighth note 180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest. 180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together. An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...

tied to three triplet sixteenth notes, followed by another eighth note, is passed between the voice and the piano.Meister, B: "Nineteenth-Century French Song: Fauré, Chausson, Duparc, and Debussy", pp. 29, 30. Indiana University Press, 1980. Gondolier du Rialto Mon château c'est la lagune, Mon jardin c'est le Lido. Mon rideau le clair de lune. Gondolier du grand canal, Pour fanal j'ai la croisée Où s'allument tous les soirs, Tes yeux noirs, mon épousée. Ma gondole est aux heureux, Deux à deux je la promène, Et les vents légers et frais Sont discret sur mon domaine. J'ai passé dans les amours, Plus de jours et de nuits folles, Que Venise n'a d'ilots Que ses flots n'ont de gondoles.Barcarolle (The LiederNet Archive)
Accessed February 13, 2008.

References

''The texts used in this article are

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trois Melodies Op.7 (Faure) Compositions by Gabriel Fauré Mélodies 1878 compositions