Listening 5

 

Henri Duparc (1848-1933)

Duparc was born in Paris. He studied piano with César Franck at the Jesuit College in the Vaugirard district and became one of his first composition pupils. Following military service in the Franco-Prussian War, he married Ellen MacSwinney, from Scotland, on November 9, 1871. In the same year, he joined with Saint-Saëns and Romain Bussine to found the Société Nationale de Musique Moderne.

Duparc is best known for his seventeen mélodies ("art songs") with texts by poets such as Baudelaire, Gautier, Leconte de Lisle, and Goethe. These pieces are considered by many to be among the greatest compositions by any composer in this form.

A mental illness, called "neurasthenia", caused him to abruptly cease composing at age 37, in 1885. He devoted himself to his family and his other passions, drawing and painting. However, he began losing his vision after the turn of the century, which eventually led to complete blindness. He destroyed most of his music, leaving fewer than 40 works to posterity.

Soupir

French text by:

René François Armand (Sully) Prudhomme (1839 – 1907), see Listening #4 for more information about poet.

Soupir comes from Les solitudes, 1869.

Ne jamais la voir ni l'entendre,
Ne jamais tout haut la nommer,
Mais, fidèle, toujours l'attendre,
  Toujours l'aimer!

Ouvrir les bras, et, las d'attendre,
Sur la néant les refermer!
Mais encor, toujours les lui tendre
  Toujours l'aimer.

Ah! ne pouvoir que les lui tendre
Et dans les pleurs se consumer,
Mais ces pleurs toujours les répandre,
  Toujours l'aimer...

Ne jamais la voir ni l'entendre,
Ne jamais tout haut la nommer,
Mais d'un amour toujours plus tendre
  Toujours l'aimer. Toujours!
 

 Never to see or hear her,
 never to name her aloud,
 but faithfully always to wait for her
  and love her.
 
 To open my arms and, tired of waiting,
 to close them on nothing,
 but still always to stretch them out to her
  and to love her.
 
 To only be able to stretch them out to her,
 and then to be consumed in tears,
 but always to shed these tears,
  always to love her.
 
 Never to see or hear her,
 never to name her aloud,
 but with a love that grows ever more tender,
  always to love her. Always!