The song Nach Süden (To the South) by Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn) describes the annual migration of birds. It was published posthumously in 1850, together with four other songs for solo voice and piano, as Op. 10 by her husband, the painter Wilhelm Hensel. It’s likely that Hensel was also the author of the text. In a brisk 12/8, the “traveling chorus” of birds takes to the skies to reach the “eternal blossoming”, which is set in common time, before taking flight again to return in the spring “to nest and home”, all the while singing.
This art song was originally conceived for solo voice and piano rather than chamber choir. In his arrangement, Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it to the needs and expressive capabilities of a larger ensemble while at the same time preserving the character and qualities of the original. Each vocal part enjoys its own melodic line extracted from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. The variety and sophistication of this choral arrangement takes full account of the enormous flexibility in interpretation and expression demanded of soloist and pianist by French mélodies or German Lieder.
The song was recorded by the figure humaine kammerchor on the CD ...wo die Zitronen blühn (Carus 83.514).
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Composer
Fanny Hensel
| 1805-1847Fanny Hensel (1805-1847), born Mendelssohn, was one of the most talented female composers of the Romantic period and an important representative of 19th century German musical life. As the sister of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, she grew up in an artistic environment that encouraged her musical development from an early age, but also confronted her with social restrictions due to her gender. In the 1830s and 1840s in particular, Fanny Hensel composed a large number of songs, piano and choral works and - despite the reservations of her father and brother - ultimately decided to gradually publish her music. In her family home in Berlin, a centre for musicians and intellectuals, she performed many of these works, which combine romantic emotionality with tonal sophistication, as part of the so-called Sunday music. On 14 May 1847, she suffered a stroke during rehearsals for one of her popular Sunday concerts and died just a few hours later. Her impressive œuvre, which comprises more than 460 compositions, is today regarded as a significant contribution to Romantic musical culture and is attracting increasing attention in concerts and academic studies.
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Songwriter / Librettist
Wilhelm Hensel
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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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