Poulenc - C (1943)

"C" from Poulenc's Deux Poemes de Louis Aragon

20th century French chanson changed immensely and rapidly due to internal and external factors affecting France, the greatest of which were the two World Wars that were truly centered around France. These wars brought the full spectrum of power and destruction that human beings were capable of to a new apex. This, however, led to a new apex in artistic motivation, inspiration, and insight that musicians and, specifically, composers were cable of. From Ravel's 5 Mélodies populaires grecques to the later music of Erik Satie, the immense insight gained by experiencing the extremes is immediately apparent, whether the subject was war, love, loss, or laughter.

Poulenc's Deux Poemes de Louis Aragon was published in 1944, during of one of the bloodiest periods of time in France's already tragic history. The Nazis had been occupying the country for about 4 years at this time, France's infrastructure was almost non-existent, millions of French citizens and soldiers had died, with more yet to perish, and France was beginning to resemble a ruinous wasteland akin to that of Warsaw, which had just been completely destroyed. This isn't to say France was coming out of any golden period of their own; World War 1 had just ended 21 years earlier, and the failure of the Third Republic to effectively run the country had made the French national morale quite low before the Germans entered France in 1940 at the beginning of World War 2.

Poulenc, personally, was also quite troubled. A devout Roman Catholic in his later years who also was considered the world's first openly gay composer, Poulenc was a successful composer and a member of the legendary group of composers, Les Six. Louis Aragon, meanwhile, was a surrealist poet and novelist who was also an avid supporter of the French Communist Party. The Deux Poemes were written early in Aragon's life, suggesting his fully radical ideals had not completely set in yet.

Let us take a look at the first of the two songs, "C".

Here is a translation!

J'ai traversé les ponts de Cé I have crossed the bridges of Cé

C'est là que tout a commencé It was there that it all began

Une chanson du temps passé A song of times past

Parle d'un chevalier blessé Speaks of a wounded knight

D'une rose sur la chaussee, Of a rose upon the road

Et d'un corsage délacé And of a bodice unlaced

Du château d'un duc insanse, Of the castle of a mad duke

Et des cygnes dans ses fosses And of the swans in its moats

De la prairie où vient danse Of the meadow where will dance

Une éternelle fiancée An eternal fiancée

Et j'ai bu comme un lait glace, And like cold milk I drank

Le long des laïcs de gloires fausses The long lay of false glories

La Loire emporte mes pensées The Loire carries off my thoughts

Avec des voitures versés Along with the overturned cars

Et les armes désamorcées And the defused weapons

Et les larmes mal effacée And the tears not rubbed away

Oh ma France, ô mon delacee; Oh my France, oh my abandoned one

J'ai traversé les ponts de Cé. I have crossed the bridges of Cé.

With the ever-growing complexity of surrealist art in the early 20th century, which is ever-apparent in the text and music of this piece, I believe some historical context would be helpful in the analysis of this song.

The title of the song, "C", or "Ce", is taken from the name of a commune in France called "Les Ponts de Ce", or "The Bridges of Ce" which is part of the text in the first line of the song. Les Ponts de Ce has been the site of an extreme amount of decisive battles throughout history, beginning with the nearby Battle of Tours in 732, which pushed the Umayyad Caliphate, the reigning Islam kingdom in the world that time, back into Spain. The battle is considered to be one of the turning points in modern Western history. Ce is very close to Tours, and no doubt saw conflict. Ce also saw decisive battles during the Hundred-Years War in the 14th and 15th centuries, and also saw the end of a civil war in the 17th century. Basically, Ce has seen it's fair share of bloody conflict throughout history. Again, note the time in which Aragon wrote the text to the song, and when Poulenc set the text is without a doubt the bloodiest expanse of time in modern history.

The challenge with this piece will be analyzing it mostly without the score. However, the aspects of the music I will cover are, for the most part, easily aurally identified.

Here is a great recording by Sally Matthews that you can use while reading along;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHN0-tVqOW8

Listen to the first 15 seconds or so. If you had to describe what "shape" the musical line takes in this period, what would you say? Hopefully an arc form. What tangible object does an arc resemble?

A bridge.

One facet of the music not quickly apparently for most is that the piece is in A-flat minor, a not-often chosen key for composers. While the piece takes after Poulenc's composition style with great chromaticism, the tonic prevails throughout. The relative major to A-flat minor is C-flat major. At important points in the piece, Poulenc chromatically inflects the melody and the accompaniment to include C-natural. It would seem as if Poulenc has created a musical play on words, due to the name of the piece, "C". Throughout the piece there is a constant battle between C-flat and C-natural, possibly representing the sorrow that has impacted the physical Les Ponts de Ce for over a millenia. This convergence of our phonetically based languages (French, German, English) and the universal musical language is incredible; Poulenc has found a way to represent the non-musical in a musical way, taking two languages and making them into one.

Another interesting facet of the music is the rhythmic structure of the accompaniment; every subdivision at the eighth-note level in every measure is represented in the piece; in short, there is no rhythmic "space" in the piece. This holds true save for 4 places; 3 of them are in the last 4 measures. The one place where there is an eighth-note "missing" is after the words “eternelle fiancee”. This is, musically and textually, the turning point into the area where the contrast with earlier conflicts seen in Cé are contrasted with conflicts of the present day for Aragon and Poulenc. I will also go a step further and say that the rhythmic pattern of continuous eighth-notes represents a march, an all-too familiar characteristic of war seen both in medieval times and modern times. This march, however, seems to represent the common man's march through the struggle to survive war as a citizen.

A close look at the text reveals the contrast between the ancient battles at Les Ponts de Ce and the conflict in the modern world in which Aragon and Poulenc lived. The song is quite a powerful statement as to the devastating effects of war and conflict on normal people, whether they be musicians, businessmen, children, or teachers.

Of course, I haven't analyzed all of the aspects of the piece, so please comment with your own insight, especially if you have access to a copy of the score!

Next week is Aria Week! GET PUMPED.

Robert Schumann - Dichterliebe, Op. 48 Pt 1-4 Fischer-Dieskau Salzburg 1956

Dichterliebe, "Im wunderschönen Monat Mai"

So, I had originally planned to cover a lied by Schubert, but I've had Schumann stuck in my head all morning, so I'll be covering one of my favorite selections from Robert Schumann's "Dichterliebe", or "The Poet's Love".

Of course, we are now dealing with a song cycle, so our analysis will differ in origin and technique from how we analyzed "Caro mio ben". Without going into the entire historical background of the song cycle, it's always good to get an idea of what the composer and, subsequently the poet/author of the text were personally trying to convey.The origin of the text is the Lyrisches Intermezzo, by the legendary Heinrich Heine, and a common source of text for Romantic composers of song. Ironically, Heine absolutely despised German romanticism, and often wrote groupings of poetry that satirized the idea as a whole. Yet, Schumann used 16 of the 65 pieces from Lyrisches in this completely honest, wholly Romantic work. Why he did this is absolutely up to debate; some might say that his deteriorating mental condition might have played a part in his choice for the text, or maybe that he was truly inspired by Heine's work, although it was meant to criticize the very artistic movement that Schumann embodied.

Whatever the reason, the work was almost certainly written with his lover at the time, Clara Wieck, in mind. He finally married Clara in 1840, the same year in which he wrote "Dichterliebe" and 153 other songs, later dubbed his "Year of Song". Also, Schumann's aforementioned mental condition definitely contributed to his choice of text, and also his compositional techniques in the song set, which we will cover in a bit...

For now, we will start with the basics, as we did last week; the music, and the text!

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,         In the wonderfully beautiful month of May

Als alle Knospen sprangen,              When all the buds are bursting open,

Da ist in meinem Herzen                 There, from my own heart,

Die Liebe aufgegangen.                  Bursts forth my own love.

Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,        In the wonderfully beautiful month of May
Als alle Vögel sangen,                   When all the birds are singing,Da hab' ich ihr gestanden              So have I confessed to her

Mein Sehnen und Verlangen. My yearning and my longing.

(Translation; www.recmusic.org/lieder)

From the first reading of the text, one can see the striking contrast between the "bursting" of "buds" of flowers,

typical of May, and the "yearning" and "longing" that is represented by the birds. A simple summary of the

character's viewpoint in this song is this; What does unrequited love feel like in the springtime?

More on that later...

Now, for some musical analysis.

For the first try at analyzing this piece, try to consider three things exclusively;

Harmonic structure

Tonality

Motivic Structure (emphasis on the structure of rhythmic motives)

Let's start with harmonic structure!

So, for a throwback to early theory classes, lets discern the assumed tonality of the piece given it's key signature. The piece is either in A major or it's relative minor, F sharp minor. Lets analyze the first 4 bars of the piece, leading up to the vocal entrance.

By the look of the first measure, it seems like the first chord of the piece would be a B minor chord in first inversion, with a few passing tones and a 9-8 suspension. Ok, somewhat common! The next measure implies a C#7 chord, suggesting that the piece is in F# minor. This would mean that the harmonic action in the first two measures would suggest a minor iv chord moving to the dominant, C#7, in the key of F# minor. This same motive is repeated verbatim in the next two measures.

Now, with the entrance of the vocal line, it seems as if the melody presented in the right hand of the piano in the first four measures will be repeated by the voice.

But what does Schumann do? He completely changes the implied tonality of the piece from F# minor to A major, with a perfect authentic cadence on the downbeat of m. 6.

Except for one small problem; there is a 4-3 suspension in the right hand of the piano (D-C#).

This might seem like a minute detail in the context of the piece and the cycle itself. But has Schumann already done in these first 6 measures to suggest the overall message of the piece and, of course, the text?

Continuing along the lines of harmonic analysis, let us call A major "happiness" and F# minor "sorrow", or maybe even "melancholy". Take a look back at the first 6 measures. Actually, even the first 4 measures. What do you think is going on?

Schumann has literally emoted, through music, an internal battle between happiness and sadness.

There is a strong tonicization of F# minor in these measures, but never a resolution in that key. There is almost a definite cadence in A major on the downbeat of m. 6, as I said before. But, that little tiny suspension prevents the cadence from really occurring. Or, rather, the character can never truly feel happy; there is always something preventing him/her from this.

And all of that in 6 measures of music.

As I have just covered tonality in that rant of mine, I'd like to direct your attention to motive, both rhythmic and melodic. From the very first measure, there is a great deal of syncopation, with most of the most "dissonant" tones being presented on strong beats in the measure. This rhythmic uncertainty plays into the idea of a constant state of melancholy, as I mentioned before.

Melodically speaking, there are two notes that are so important in this piece; C# and D. They are the first two notes in the piece. They cause the 4-3 suspension to occur in m. 6. They are the lowest tones in the first two measures of the piece. All of this suggests either a "le-sol" melodic figure (lowered scale degree 6 moving to the dominant) in F# minor, or a 4-3 suspension ("fa-mi") in the key of A major. This figure in and of itself represents both a possible resolution in sadness and a possible resolution in happiness. When one experiences the extremes of emotions, happiness and sadness are sometimes indiscernible...

Of course I didn't analyze the whole piece, so if you see anything else, please comment!

Here is a copy of the score;

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/1/1c/IMSLP51736-PMLP12745-RS131.pdf

Also, as per the suggestion of a friend of mine, I found a great recording of this piece by the legendary baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and the equally legendary pianist and accompanist, Gerald Moore.

Next week I'll be analyzing a piece from the depths of 20th century French chanson! Stay tuned!

Caro mio ben

I definitely went there. This blog wouldn't be valid, in my opinion, if the first piece that was analyzed wasn't Giordani's "Caro mio ben". You've sung it. You've heard it way too many times.

But have you analyzed it?

Probably not. It's too simple, right? There can't be anything hidden within the musical confines of this piece, right?

We'll, you may be. But with all of that build-up, we just have to take a look at it, right?

As time goes on, I'll include a page with a step-by-step process on how you can effectively analyze any piece of vocal music, but for now, let's take a quick look at the text and translation.

Caro mio ben, My dear beloved,

credimi almen, Believe me, at least,

senza di te Without you

languisce il cor! My heart languishes!

Il tuo fedel Your faithful one

sospira ognor always sighs;

cessa, crudel cease, cruel one

tanto rigor! so much punishment!

(Translation provided by recmusic.org)

This, I would say, is the first step in effectively analyzing any vocal piece; become familiar with the text.

Now that we have the text/translation, let's move onto some of the characteristics of the music.

Now, we know the piece is in a major key . We know the piece is extremely simple, which is the reason for it's extreme use in early voice lessons. But what is interesting about these first four bars?

My eye goes right to the first measure; the 2 beat anacrusis. If one were to listen to this, they probably wouldn't hear the first measure (the pick-up) as that; they would hear the piece beginning right on the measure. One reason might be that it is an editorial characteristic; the master of the "24" book might have just notated it as such from the manuscript. But, maybe there is a less practical reason for this.

How do we play music? We're not robots, and as such every moment of every piece is going to be different, going to have a human characteristic about it. If you look at the first two measures, you'll notice that the "Caro" motive has a lot of motion going to that first beat of the "first measure", what will eventually become "ben". I believe the choice to notate the piece this way was to make the music serve the text in a greater way. If you go through the piece in more detail, you'll see that the longer-held note, or the note that appears on the first beat of the measure, always comes with an important word in the context of the lyrics. "ben", "cor", etc.

Also, given the nuances of spoken Italian, this compositional choice gives the text more authenticity. Put almost too simply, it would sound strange to a native Italian to hear more emphasis on "Caro" and no emphasis on "mio ben". Especially once we get to "cor", which might be the most important word in that entire stanza of text.

What is the purpose of that rant on one tiny attribute in this piece?

Even the smallest musical characteristic can have a wealth of information for you, the performer, to make the piece as musical and authentic as possible.

Now, there is one other characteristic I'd love to touch on, and that is the structure of the melodic line.

There are two dominant designs of melodic line in this piece, and they are;

Descending (falling)

Arc form (rising, then falling)

Often times, even just descriptive words can suit analysis better than large and often strange music theory terms can.

In a song about love, what do you think a rising melodic line would mean? What do you think a descending melodic line would mean? Better yet, what would a rising and then descending line mean?

Now, let us go back to the text. This arietta could be considered a lament, and the first stanza of text fits that description quite well. The melody is also gradually, through a small sequence, falling.

In this case, lament equals a falling melodic line.

Now, in the second verse, there is a big hint as to what causes the arcing melodic line. That hint would be the word sospira, meaning to sigh, or to breathe.

What, in terms of the human body, happens when one takes a breath? There is a rising of the chest on the intake of the breath, and falling of the chest on the exhale of the breath.

In this case, the lamenting lover is literally and musically breathing in the hope that his beloved will stop being cruel to him.

So, my hope with this partial analysis is you'll see that even the most simple of pieces can be deceptively complex.

See anything else? Feel free to comment!

Next week I'll be posting something from early Romantic German lieder.

Welcome!

Hi! First of all, thank you for visiting this blog. This is really a special thing for me, as it is the crossroads between my two greatest musical passions; singing and music theory. Of course, what would make it even more special is if I could impart this passion on other singers, so that they could experience their performances on numerous different levels.

So, here's how this site will work. Each Friday, I will post a piece that I have analyzed. The analysis may or may not include Roman numeral analysis, form analysis, rhythmic analysis, style analysis, etc. I will, on purpose, not show all of the completed analysis in each post; that would completely contradict the purpose of this blog and make me into some kind of music theory dictator. I'm just a college student with a passion for music, and so my hope for this blog is that people who view this site will submit their own analysis and thoughts on each piece. This way, we can (almost too) completely analyze each piece, and hear different opinions and thoughts on the same thing, which can be more resourceful than one person publishing their thoughts.

I'll pick the pieces from the standard art song and aria repertoire. Each month, I'll post a commonly sung aria.

If there are any pieces you would like to post, please let me know. What I hope will happen is that the viewers of this site will end up picking the pieces, and I'll just post them with some analysis of my own, leading to a really awesome informed discussion.

So, the first piece will be posted tomorrow! I'll start with something deceptively simple (try and guess what it might be... :-) )

Best,

Alex