In Les berceaux the ships of men setting off into the unknown and the cradles with children pushed by the women’s hands both rock in 12/8 meter. Amongst all of this, an eighth-note motif is heard rocking to and from in the piano accompaniment in Fauré’s unique and subtle pianistic language.
This art song was originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it 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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- Les Berceaux
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- Les Berceaux
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, originalhtml file, singing text, original (Sample)Le long des quais, les grands vaisseaux,
Que la houle incline en silence,
Ne prennent pas garde aux berceaux
Que la main des femmes balance.Mais viendra le jour des adieux,
Car il faut que les femmes pleurent,
Et que les hommes curieux
Tentent les horizons qui leurrent.Et ce jour-là, les grands vaisseaux,
Fuyant le port qui diminue,
Sentent leur masse retenue
Par l’âme des lointains berceaux.Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907)
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, german translationhtml file, singing text, german translation (Sample)
Die entlang der Kais liegenden großen Schiffe,
die die Woge still neigt,
achten nicht auf die Wiegen,
die die Hand der Frauen schaukelt.Aber es wird der Tag des Abschieds kommen,
denn die Frauen müssen weinen
und die begierigen Männer
sich gen der lockenden Horizonte wagen!Und an diesem Tag fühlen die großen Schiffe,
die den kleiner werdenden Hafen fliehen,
ihre Masse von der Seele
der fernen Wiegen zurückgehalten.Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907)
Übersetzung: Christiane Rouger-Ortwein...
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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.
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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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