In Au bord de l’eau (By the water) two lovers sit as in a dream, removed from the real world with all its conflicts. They only take themselves seriously, the surrounding nature lies as beneath a dream-like veil: steadily like the river flowing by, the passing clouds, the babbling brook, time also passes. The poet Sully Prudhomme, the first Nobel prizewinner for literature (1901), ends the poem with the assertion that only love is immortal. With this knowledge, Gabriel Fauré’s setting turns from a dreamy, deceptive C sharp minor to a more promising C sharp major.
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).
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- Au bord de l‘eau
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- Au bord de l‘eau
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, originalhtml file, singing text, original (Sample)S’assoir tous deux au bord du flot qui passe,
Le voir passer ;
Tous deux s’il glisse un nuage en l’espace,
Le voir glisser ;
A l’horizon s’il fume un toit de chaume,
Le voir fumer ;
Aux alentours si quelque fleur embaume,
S’en embaumer.Entendre au pied du saule où l’eau murmure,
L’eau murmurer ;
Ne pas sentir tant que ce rêve dure,
Le temps durer ;
Mais n’apportant de passion profonde,
Qu’à s’adorer ;
Sans nul souci des querelles du monde,
Les ignorer.Et seuls tous deux devant tout ce qui lasse,
Sans se lasser,
Sentir l’amour devant tout ce qui passe,
Ne point passer....
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, originalhtml file, singing text, original (Sample)
Sich alle beide an das Ufer des Stromes, der vorbeizieht, setzen,
ihn vorbeiziehen sehen,
alle beide, wenn eine Wolke durch den Raum gleitet,
sie gleiten sehen,
am Horizont, wenn ein Schilfdach raucht,
es rauchen sehen,
ringsum, wenn eine Blume die Luft mit ihrem Duft erfüllt,
sich von dem Duft erfüllen lassen.Am Fuße der Weide, wo das Wasser plätschert,
das Wasser plätschern hören,
nicht fühlen, während dieser Traum dauert,
wie die Zeit dauert,
aber tiefe Leidenschaft haben nur,
um sich glühend zu lieben,
ohne jedwede Sorge ob der Streitigkeiten der Welt,
Sie nicht beachten.Und alle beide alleine vor alldem, das ermüdet,
ohne zu ermüden,
Vor alldem, das vergeht, fühlen, dass die Liebe
nicht vergeht....
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Composer
Gabriel Fauré
| 1845-1924French composer, 1845-1924.
He was a pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns and studied at the Paris School of Sacred Music. Fauré worked as an organist and choirmaster and gave piano lessons and recitals in Parisian salons. He was able to improvise brilliantly on the piano, which is also reflected in his compositions. He was director of the Paris Conservatoire from 1905 to 1920.
Fauré mainly wrote vocal, piano and chamber music. He is best known for his piano songs for solo voice and his Requiem, which was also performed at his own funeral service.
Personal details
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Songwriter / Librettist
Sully Prudhomme
| 1839-1907
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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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