Poème d’amour

As with other songs she composed in those years, Nadia Boulanger left an unfinished manuscript, lacking in particular any tempo or dynamic markings. Yet the music speaks for itself, and performers will have no difficulty conveying the anxious, almost breathless character of the first stanza: in the piano, an obstinate repeated note in syncopation and constant chromaticism mirror the rising tide of desire. The second stanza unfolds in a new key, in more sustained writing, as the voice grows increasingly lyrical up to the climax (“C’est de survivre à mon tourment”), which briefly recalls the bravura moment of an operatic aria. The third stanza revives the breathless character and syncopated writing of the opening measures in an uncertain tonality, then moves toward a certain emphatic quality, as Nadia Boulanger chooses to repeat “toi seule pourras le tarir.” Finally, the last stanza, without departing from the principle of continuous melody, returns to the syncopation of the opening measures and its strikingly bold and inventive chord progressions, ending on a luminous G major chord. For although the poem closes on a funereal image (“car j’ai soif de mourir”), the music here is clearly a favorable answer to the call of love. This song is especially revealing of the young musician’s intimate sensibility and of the spontaneity of her vocal writing.

© Leduc 2020

This song was published in Volume III of the Mélodies pour voix moyenne.
The song Le beau navire, composed three years later, is a reworked version of this one, on a poem by Georges Delaquys.

© Anthony Girard