Aubade

This is an unfinished song, probably no more than a sketch: the score gives no dynamics, and from the third stanza on, the piano part is reduced to a few fragments. Moreover, Nadia Boulanger curiously omitted certain words of the poem. “En badinant et avec un rythme un peu nonchalant” (Playfully, with a somewhat nonchalant rhythm), reads the marking above the first measure, where a syncopated figure in the piano introduces a sprightly tone in keeping with the bucolic character of the poem. The second stanza, which reveals how nature in a state of excitement favors love, begins with surprising harmonies, far removed from the opening character. Of the ending, sadly, too little remains to hope to reconstruct the authentic version of this song, whose complete manuscript, if it ever existed, is now lost.

© Leduc 2020

This song was published in Volume III of the Mélodies pour voix moyenne.

© Anthony Girard