Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée (Reynaldo Hahn)
Ivan Aivazovsky: “The Black Sea at Night” 1879
Hahn responds with an Oceanic Nocturne that is quintessentially French, and quintessentially our dearest Reynaldo. At the same time a tender somnolescent Berceuse and a watery barcarolle, ripples of “3 against 2” patterns suggest an ocean, restless but not turbulent. This is not Debussy’s oceans with titanic waves and crests and exhilirating splashes in your face.
A Berceuse is a lullaby usually in 6/8 time or in triple meter, often alternating tonic and dominant harmonies; since the intended effect is to put a baby to sleep, wild chromaticism would be somewhat out of character. A Barcarole (from the Italian barca or ‘boat’) is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, characterized by a rhythm reminiscent of the gondolier’s stroke, almost invariably a moderate tempo 6/8 meter.
Graham Johnson’s description of Si mes vers avaient des ailes seems as apt here:
” The distinguishing marks of Hahn’s style are all there: an accompaniment which undulates in the background like a slow unfurling of a skein of sumptuous material, a backgound of seemingly little import which nevertheless shapes the melody in the manner of the lightest of hands on a potter’s wheel; a vocal line which is derived from the intimacy of speech but which contains it in the seeds of a wonderful melody truly to be sung“ [Johnson, Graham & Stokes, Richard: “A French Song Companion”, Oxford University Press, New York, 2000, P.236]
When the night is not studded with stars
Come rock yourself on the waves of the sea;
~~“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.”(Monseigneur Bienvenu in “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo)
The key is D major, surprisingly bright for a Night Song, but seems in keeping with the tender repose which is longed for. Of course, there is a darker side to this story. Victor Hugo wrote a set of poems in 1835: Chants du crépuscule, included many love lyrics to a certain Juliette Drouet (1806-1883). In the previous years, Hugo’s wife apparently tired of his vast ego and endless childbearing, falling into an affair with the particularly pointed critic Sainte-Beuve.
Juliette Drouet (1806-1883)
“Tormented by his wife’s coldness and his own inordinate sexual cravings, Hugo fell in love with the young actress and courtesan Juliette Drouet and took it upon himself to “redeem” her. He paid her debts and forced her to live in poverty, with her whole being focused entirely upon him. For the next 50 years Juliette followed the poet wherever he went. She lived in his shadow, unable to take a step without his permission, confined to a room here, a mere hovel there, but always near the magnificent houses where Hugo settled with his family. She lived henceforth solely for the poet and spent her time writing him letters, of which many thousands are extant.” [Ionesco, Eugene, Hugoliad, or, The grotesque and tragic life of Victor Hugo, New York: Grove Press, 1987.]
for peace to your desert heart!
Request a drop in the urn!
Request a song to this concert!
Download Free Sheet Music of “Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée” (Reynaldo Hahn/Victor Hugo)
Hahn “Quand La Nuit’ D Major – PDF
Reynaldo Hahn: Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée – Text in French
Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885), no title, 1835, from Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 29, published 1835. Hahn set only verses 9 to 13
9. Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée,
Viens te bercer aux flots des mers ;
Comme la mort elle est voilée,
Comme la vie ils sont amers.
10. L’ombre et l’abîme ont un mystèreQue nul mortel ne pénétra ;
C’est Dieu qui leur dit de se taire
Jusqu’au jour où tout parlera!
11. D’autres yeux de ces flots sans nombre
Ont vainement cherche le fond ;
D’autres yeux se sont emplis d’ombre
A contempler ce ciel profond.
12. Toi, demande au monde nocturne
De la paix pour ton cœur désert !
Demande une goutte à cette urne !Demande un chant à ce concert !
13. Plane au-dessus des autres femmes,
Et laisse errer tes yeux si beaux
Entre le ciel où sont les âmes
Et la terre où sont les tombeaux !
Reynaldo Hahn: When the night is not studded with stars – English translation by Albert Combrink of “Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée”
Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885), no title, 1835, from Les Chants du Crépuscule (“The songs of twilight”), no. 29, published 1835. Hahn set only verses 9 to 13
9. When the night is not studded with stars
Come rock yourself on the waves of the sea;
Like death, night is veiled,
Like life, waves are bitter.
10. The dark and abyss have a deep mystery
That no mortal has penetrated;
It is God who tells them to be quiet
Until the day when all shall speak!
11. Other eyes have, of these uncountable waves,
in vain sought to guage the depths;
Other eyes filled with shadows,
contemplating the deep sky.
12. You, ask the nocturnal world
for peace to your desert heart!
Request a drop in the urn!
Request a song to this concert!
13. Soar above the other women,
And let your beautiful eyes wander
Between heaven, where souls are,
And earth, where there are tombs!
“Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée” (Reynaldo Hahn/Victor Hugo) – Marie Devellereau, soprano, & Philippe Cassard, piano
“Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée” (Reynaldo Hahn/Victor Hugo) – Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano & Graham Johnson, piano
“Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée” (Reynaldo Hahn/Victor Hugo) in a Cello Arrangement performed by Sarah Acres (Cello) and Albert Combrink (Piano)
“Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée” (Reynaldo Hahn/Victor Hugo)
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