L'âme évaporée et souffrante,
L'âme douce, l'âme odorante des lys divins
que j'ai cueillis dans le jardin de ta pensée,
Où donc les vents l'ont-ils chassée,
Cette âme adorable des lys?
N'est-il plus un parfum qui reste
De la suavité céleste,
Des jours où tu m'enveloppais
d'une vapeur surnaturelle
faite d'espoir, d'amour fidèle,
de béatitude et de paix?...
The soul, wafting, suffering,
sweet and scented of divine lilies
which I picked from your bountiful garden.
To where then the winds have taken chase
of this beautiful lily's soul?
Is there any more perfume
of the divine tenderness,
of days when you'd cover me
in a supernatural veil
made of hope, of loyal love
of happiness and of peace?
***
"L'âme evaporée", or known by its poem's title
"Romance", is part of Debussy's
"2 Romances". It's a perennial favourite for recitals due to its beautiful arching lines, a medium range (D3-F#4 with an optional G#4) and its beautiful
parole, set from
Paul Bourget's poem. I have taken the liberty of re-arranging the lines and the words somewhat so that it made more sense to be read as prose. The translation is entirely mine, and I have also freely translated some phrases, e.g.
le jardin de ta pensée as 'your bountiful garden',
vapeur surnaturelle as 'supernatural veil'.
What do I look for in this song? Well, some of the things are fairly obvious from the score.
Romance is one of those songs you could imagine how it should sound from looking at the score alone.
L'âme douce should be sung with extreme tenderness, which is hard because it is a short stand-alone phrase. Onwards are a few phrases which require little, excepting an ascent to F#; here Debussy sets it on an
i vowel and allows a crescendo, so this should help, but one should remember the climax of the crescendo is on
jardin and not on
cueillis.
Où donc les vents l'ont-ils chassée should be sung with each note detached but equal, in the same way
Cette âme adorable des lys should be sung legato. The arching phrases onwards should be sculpted to suggest wistfulness; special attention is to be given to
d'une vapeur surnaturelle as the top note of this phrase (E or G#) should be sung
dolce, as if in remembrance of a lover's embrace. One should not pour out the full voice for
faite d'espoir, d'amour fidèle because to do so will break the structure of the
parole; one only need to read the original poetry to see that this phrase and the phrase before it should be connected. Debussy knew this: hence the
mf marking as opposed to a full-out
f. The last phrase,
de béatitude et de paix should be tapered delicately, using
mezza voce for
de paix, surely peace should be suggested by a beautiful half-voice in
piano.
Frances Alda, a contemporary of Nellie Melba, offers a rendition accompanied with an orchestra. Her take on the song is quite passionate, as befitting a soprano who sang against Caruso. Her treatment of the line
Cette âme adorable des lys? is especially interesting, her portamento turning the phrase into a musical equivalent of
Arc de Triomphe. She also used a similar ornament each time the phrase ends on the dominant from a higher note. She took the higher
oppure in
d'une vapeur surnaturelle, however she had to break the legato line in order to procure the top G#, which she held (which I do not condone in this music). Overall I find the heavy vibrato often emulates veristic singing which of course is the wrong approach in this music; however this may also be a problem with the recording technology.
Nellie Melba's voice sometimes confuses me. Her timbre, especially its lower register, is similar to Luisa Tetrazzini, but its mid-high and high register has a beautiful purity which is unique to her. It is interesting to compare her rendition to Alda's: Melba also applies the portamento like Alda, but not to the same extreme. She also took the higher
oppure; while she also took a breath before
surnaturelle her legato is more intact, on the other hand her G# was quite precarious and strained. Her take of the final two phrases (
de béatitude | et de paix?) uses a form of
voce bianca, perhaps she wishes to suggest wistfulness but I suspect its ability to project in a hall. I find Melba's version more congenial compared to Alda's, as she is more successful in conveying the mood of the piece.
Hugues Cuénod's rendition of the song appeared in an
LP of Debussy songs produced in 1972. Hearing it one can hear the qualities which made Cuénod such a cult favourite: his timbre, which I could only describe as 'intense ardour', his immaculate French, and his thoughtful phrasing. Notice how he pauses on the first
L'âme and his treatment of the phrases
Des jours où tu m'enveloppais | d'une vapeur surnaturelle using one breath but clearly indicating where each phrase ends. There are issues, obviously: above E his intonation is suspect, and some of his descending phrases are quite
blanche in comparison to others, for example
L'âme douce. In my opinion Cuénod's interpretation is the most successful, as he managed to transmit the wistful longing in the poem in his singing; he did it very simply, by tapering off the extreme end of his phrases into a
fil di voce, basically singing a mini-diminuendo every time.
in 2001. As a baritone, Maltman offers a different perspective. His phrasing is heavy, ponderous. His treatment of
. Perhaps he wished to mimic a gust, as his phrasing is quite suggestive of something billowing in the wind.
to reach G#. I approve this choice as the setting is art song as opposed to an aria. As a baritone the natural richness of the voice helps in
, but I find that the ponderous phrasing often gets in the way of the interpretation.
released in 2006. Her voice is a slender lyric with a beautiful purity and homogeneity between the registers. I find her rendition a bit rushed tempo-wise. Her
is so bland in comparison when both phrases begin with the same notes. I find her treatment of long phrases more successful than short phrases. Her take of the higher
to be least successful even in comparison to Altman's, because her high G# while being very secure, sounds to me like it suddenly appeared out of nowhere instead of being part of a phrase. It is interesting to note that Piau is able to convey the song's mood by her sheer timbre, which is quite suggestive of a young girl or even a boy-soprano with its purity and clean lines.
