The harmonic turns and piano configurations in La vie antérieure – the “former life” – seem almost exuberantly lyrical. At the beginning, the archaic sounds and words of the male choir conjure up a dream world that is soon flooded with the power of the waves and the rich polyphonic harmony of the choir and the piano. With the outcry “C’est là que j’ai vécu!” (I have lived there) which expresses the fervent yearning to return to a past life, the collective desperately reinforces the longing for the past. Once more, the women’s choir conjures up this lost paradise in an undulating soft sound before the desolate sadness is pierced by the power of the music of the piano postlude, creating a moment that is completely in the present.
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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- La vie antèrieure
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Pronouncing Aid
- La vie antèrieure
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, originalhtml file, singing text, original (Sample)J’ai longtemps habité sous de vastes portiques
Que les soleils marins teignaient de mille feux,
Et que leurs grands piliers droits et majestueux,
Rendaient pareils, le soir, aux grottes basaltiques.Les houles en roulant les images des cieux,
Mêlaient d’une façon solennelle et mystique,
Les tout-puissants accords de leur riche musique
Aux couleurs du couchant reflété par mes yeux.C’est là, c’est là que j’ai vécu dans les voluptés calmes,
Au milieu de l’azur, des vagues, des splendeurs
Et des esclaves nus tout imprégnés d’odeurs,
Qui me rafraîchissaient le front avec des palmes,
Et dont l’unique soin était d’approfondir
Le secret douloureux qui me faisait languir.Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, german translationhtml file, singing text, german translation (Sample)
Ich wohnte lange in weiten Säulenhallen,
die von der Meeressonne in tausend Lichter getaucht wurden,
und deren große majestätische Pfeiler
sie abends basaltenen Grotten gleichen ließen.Die Wellen vermischten, indem sie die Himmelsabbilder hin und her rollten,
auf feierliche und mystische Art
die übermächtigen Akkorde ihrer reichen Musik
mit den Farben des von meinen Augen reflektierten Sonnenuntergangs.Dort, dort habe ich in ruhiger Wonne gelebt,
inmitten des Azurblaus, der Wellen,
der Pracht und der nackten Sklaven voller Gerüche,
die mir die Stirne mit Palmwedeln kühlten,
und deren einzige Sorge darin bestand,
das schmerzvolle Geheimnis zu vertiefen, das mich schmachten ließ.Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
Übersetzung: Christiane Rouger-Ortwein...
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Composer
Henri Duparc
| 1848-1933
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Songwriter / Librettist
Charles Baudelaire
| 1821-1867
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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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