5 Mélodies françaises/en
dedicated to Yetty Martens
Opus 15
History
- Song cycle on texts by Henri de Régnier, Ryuko Kawaji, Charles Van Lerberghe, René Bizet and André Germain.
- The cycle was composed in the years 1943-44 in Brussels (see below for details).
- In April 1945, Legley added the song La Lettre to the cycle and he changed the title to 6 Mélodies françaises, in the first edition of 1962 however, the song is left out.
- On 29 May 1945, the work was first performed by alto Yetty Martens and pianist Frieda Pey in auditory Akarova in Brussel (without the song La Lettre).[1] On this day, Legley dedicated the work to Yetty Martens.[2]
Music
- instrumentation: alto and piano
- duration: ca 10'
Parts
- I. Odelette
- text incipit: Si j'ai parlé de mon amour (Henri de Régnier)
- finished on 9 December 1943[3]
- tempo: Moderato
- time signature: 2/4
- duration: ca 1'30"
- II. La mort
- text incipit: Si la mort vient ici (Ryuko Kawaji)
- finished on 2 February 1944
- tempo: Moderato
- time signature: 4/4
- duration: ca 2'
- III. Barques d'or
- text incipit: Dans une barque d'Orient (Charles Van Lerberghe)
- finished on 20 April 1944
- tempo: Andantino (autograph) or Andante (first edition)
- time signature: 3/4
- duration: ca 2'30"
- IV. Faubourg gitane
- text incipit: L'indolence des gitanes (René Bizet)
- finished on 14 May 1944
- tempo: Andante moderato
- time signature: 5/8
- duration: ca 2'30"
- V. Le voyageur
- text incipit: Où t'en vas-tu dans le soir (André Germain)
- finished on 15 May 1944
- tempo: Lent et triste
- duration: ca 1'30"
Sources
- autograph: Royal Conservatory Brussels (B-Bc), shelf number P-2-00902. The alto line of this score is annotated in grey and red pencil and was probably used for the first performance. This manuscript contains La Lettre as well.
- first edition: CeBeDeM, Brussels, 1962
