Gabriel Fauré’s original setting of “Lydia” contains a piano accompaniment which is largely written colla voce – following the vocal part. In Denis Rouger’s arrangement this is omitted, and by contrast the peaceful, flowing character unfolds in a purely vocal texture. The dreamy ideas, full of longing, addressed to the beloved Lydia find their expression in a melody based on the Lydian mode – that is a major scale with a raised fourth.
This art song was originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing the any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD "Kennst du das Land ..." (Carus 83.495).
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text (without music) for download, html file, Singing text, originalhtml file, Singing text, original (Sample)Lydia, sur tes roses joues
Et sur ton col frais et si blanc,
Roule étincelant
L’or fluide que tu dénoues;Le jour qui luit est le meilleur,
Oublions l’éternelle tombe,
Laisse tes baisers de colombe
Chanter sur ta lèvre en fleur.Un lys caché répand sans cesse
Une odeur divine en ton sein ;
Les délices comme un essaim
Sortent de toi, jeune déesse.Je t’aime et meurs, ô mes amours,
Mon âme en baisers m’est ravie !
O Lydia, rends-moi la vie,
Que je puisse mourir toujours !Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894)
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text (without music) for download, html file, Singing text, German translationhtml file, Singing text, German translation (Sample)
Lydia, auf deinen rosigen Wangen
und auf deinem frischen und so weißen Hals
gleitet schimmernd
das flüssige Gold, das du löst.Der strahlende Tag ist der schönste,
lass uns das ewige Grab vergessen,
lass deine Turteltaubenküsse
auf deiner blumigen Lippe singen.Eine versteckte Lilie verströmt ununterbrochen
einen göttlichen Geruch in deinem Busen;
die Wonnen strömen wie ein Schwarm
aus dir, junge Göttin.Ich liebe dich und sterbe, oh meine Liebe,
meine Seele wird mir durch Küsse entzogen!
Oh Lydia, gib mir das Leben zurück,
damit ich immerzu sterben kann!Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894)
Übersetzung: Christiane Rouger-Ortwein...
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Composer
Gabriel Fauré
| 1845-1924
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Songwriter / Librettist
Charles Leconte de Lisle
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Arranger
Denis Rouger
| 1961Denis Rouger grew up as the son of a family of musicians in Paris, where he learned trumpet, horn, piano and singing. He studied composition at the CNSM (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique), obtaining first prizes in harmony, fugue and counterpoint. He studied choral conducting in France and Holland at the Kurt Thomas Academy and received the Certificat d’Aptitude for vocal ensembles from the Ministry of Culture.
As “Professeur agrégé” at the University of Paris-Sorbonne he conducted the “Choeur de Paris-Sorbonne” and taught choral conducting for twenty years. From 1993 to 2003, he was choirmaster at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral and from 2005 to 2006 at the Madeleine Church, where he received the title of “Honorary Music Director.”
He has conducted numerous professional and amateur ensembles, among others in Germany – where he was invited as a guest conductor by the Landesjugendchor Baden-Württemberg and the Balthasar Neumann Chor, as well as by radio choirs in Hamburg (NDR) and Stuttgart (SWR) –, Italy, Holland, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland (Lucerne Festival). He has also collaborated in several world premieres of contemporary works by Klaus Huber, N’guyen Thien Dao, Philippe Mazé and Yves Castagnet, among others. Denis Rouger gives master classes in choral conducting in Sweden, Bulgaria, France, Germany and Switzerland.
In April 2011, Denis Rouger was appointed Professor of Choral Conducting at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. The Chamber Choir of the Musikhochschule, which he founded in autumn 2011, won first prize at the International Choir Competition in Mosbach (Germany) in 2014. In collaboration with Carus the choral book French Choral Music has been published as well as the debut CD of the figure humaine kammerchor, founded in 2016 by Denis Rouger.
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