The ''Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire'' ( L 64) constitute a

song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

for voice and piano by

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

, on poems taken from ''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; ) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First published in 1857, it was important in the ...

'' by

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

. Composed from December 1887 to March 1889, these five highly developed vocal pieces were not well received by Parisian musical circles because of the

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most ...

influence they revealed. This aesthetic, following on from the harmonic innovations of ''

Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance ''Tristan and Iseult'' by Gottfried von Stras ...

'', was gradually abandoned by Debussy, addressing the composition of '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. Thus, the ''Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire'' represent a particular moment of the musical evolution of Debussy. Musicologists agree that it is "a work of crisis and transition."

Songs

# "Le Balcon" # "Harmonie du soir" # "Le jet d'eau" # "Recueillement" # "La mort des amants"

Composition

The composition of the ''Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire'' extended over more than a year: "La mort des amants" was completed in December 1887, "Le balcon" in January 1888, "Harmonie du soir" in January 1889, and "Le jet d'eau" in March of the same year. "Recueillement" is an undated melody.

Publication

The work was ill received by Parisian musical circles. After the success of '' Ariettes oubliées'', nobody wanted to edit or perform the ''Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire'', according to

Jean Barraqué Jean-Henri-Alphonse Barraqué (17 January 1928 – 17 August 1973) was a French composer and music writer. His relatively small is known for its serialism. Life Barraqué was born in Puteaux, Hauts-de-Seine. In 1931, he moved with his family to P ...

. Debussy was reduced to publishing an edition of his melodies by subscription, with only 150 copies.

References

Sources

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External links

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''Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudeaire''

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

* * , Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto),

Catherine Collard Catherine Collard (11 August 1947 – 10 October 1993) was a French classical pianist. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 14, where she studied with Yvonne Lefébure and Germaine Mounier. She was awarded the first prize in piano in ...

(piano) {{Portal bar, Classical music, Poetry, France Song cycles by Claude Debussy Les Fleurs du mal in popular culture Classical song cycles in French Musical settings of poems by Charles Baudelaire