In Charles Gounod’s L’absent, composed in 1873, "the absent one" asks at night time whether the beloved remembers him in the light of the moon and at the sound of the evening prayer bells.
These art songs were originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted them 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 83.495/00).
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- L'absent
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- L'absent
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, originalhtml file, singing text, original (Sample)O silence des nuits dont la voix seule est douce
Quand je n’ai plus sa voix,
Mystérieux rayons qui glissez sur la mousse
Dans l’ombre de ces bois,
Dites-moi si ses yeux à l’heure où tout sommeille
Se rouvrent doucement
Et si ma bien-aimée, alors que moi je veille,
Se souvient de l’absent.Quand la lune est aux cieux, baignant de sa lumière
Les grands bois et l’azur,
Quand des cloches du soir qui tintent la prière
Vibre l’écho si pur,
Dites-moi si son âme, un instant recueillie
S’élève avec leur chant,
Et si de leurs accords la paisible harmonie
Lui rappelle l’absent.
Charles Gounod (1818–1893)...
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, german translationhtml file, singing text, german translation (Sample)
Oh, Stille der Nacht, deren Stimme einzig süß klingt,
wenn ich ihre Stimme nicht mehr habe,
geheimnisvolle Strahlen,
die über das Moos im Schatten dieses Waldes gleiten,
sagt mir, ob ihre Augen zur Stunde, wo alles schläft,
sich sanft wieder öffnen,
und ob meine Liebste, während ich wach bleibe,
sich des Abwesenden erinnert.Wenn der Mond am Himmel steht, mit seinem Licht die großen Wälder
und das Himmelsazur überflutend,
wenn die Abendglocken, die zum Abendgebet läuten,
das so reine Echo schwingen lassen,
sagt mir, ob ihre Seele andächtig
sich mit ihrem Gesang erhebt,
und ob die friedliche Harmonie aus ihren Akkorden
sie an den Abwesenden erinnert.Charles Gounod (1818–1893)
Übersetzung: Christiane Rouger-Ortwein...
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Composer
Charles Gounod
| 1818-1893Charles Gounod is known today especially as the composer of the operas Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867), and of the very popular Méditation sur le 1er prélude de piano de J. S. Bach (1852), arranged in 1859 as an Ave Maria. The fact that Gounod is regarded primarily as an important opera composer does not do justice to his extensive œuvre, which encompasses all genres. His creative output is dominated by his church music, which overshadows that of all other 19th-century composers. Personal details
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Songwriter / Librettist
Charles Gounod
| 1818-1893Charles Gounod is known today especially as the composer of the operas Faust (1859) and Roméo et Juliette (1867), and of the very popular Méditation sur le 1er prélude de piano de J. S. Bach (1852), arranged in 1859 as an Ave Maria. The fact that Gounod is regarded primarily as an important opera composer does not do justice to his extensive œuvre, which encompasses all genres. His creative output is dominated by his church music, which overshadows that of all other 19th-century composers. Personal details
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Arranger
Denis Rouger
| 1961Denis Rouger gained his initial musical experience as the son of a Parisian family of musicians and during his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he received first prizes in harmony, fugue and counterpoint.
He was a lecturer and choirmaster at the University of Paris-Sorbonne for 20 years and choirmaster at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral for 10 years. He is honorary conductor of the Parisian church La Madeleine. He also collaborates with numerous ensembles in Germany. He has been invited as a guest conductor by radio choirs, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, the Baden-Württemberg State Youth Choir and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Concerts have taken him to Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland (Lucerne Festival).
He gives master classes in Sweden, Bulgaria, France, Germany, as well as in Switzerland.
Denis Rouger has been Professor of Choral Conducting at the Stuttgart State University of Music and Performing Arts since 2011. The chamber choir he founded at the university in the fall of 2011 won first prize at the International Choir Competition in Mosbach (Germany) in 2014.
In addition to his work as a choirmaster, he composes and arranges French and German songs for choir. His arrangements on the CDs Kennst Du das Land ... and ... wo die Zitronen blühn (Carus) were well received by the press and radio. In collaboration with Carus-Verlag, he has edited the choir book Französische Chormusik, which received the German Music Edition Award “Best Edition” in 2019.
In 2016, Denis Rouger founded the figure humaine kammerchor (www.figurehumaine.de), with which he regularly gives concerts at renowned festivals.
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