David Solomons

Alternative title

L'aube et les fleurs pâles des prés

Composer

David W Solomons

Lyricist

Marie Keyser

Publisher

David W Solomons

Genre

Classical / Song

Instrumentation

Acoustic guitar, Contralto, Countertenor, Classical guitar

Scored for

Duo

Type of score

Score for two performers, Parts

Duration

4'30"

Language

French

Difficulty

Easy

Year of composition

1977

Description
A sort of secular mass for the mysteries of nature and of the mind.
The original poem didn't have the words Gloria and Credo, but they seemed to fit and gave it a more quasi religious feel.
The sound sample is my own performance.
The pdf contains the score and also separate parts.
A video of my performance can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO0Ph9oVSFU

The poem is as follows (with English translation in square brackets]

L'aube et les fleurs pâles des prés sur le front,
tu vas
[Dawn and the pale flowers of the field on your brow,
you go]

inclinant l'herbe endormie, je vois trembler l'air lumineux
le pollen
[bending the sleeping grass I see the shining air trembling
and the pollen]

Gloria in terra
[Glory on earth]

Nous dormons mais la fièvre veille,
déchirant les fleurs
et la nuit de l'eau.

[We sleep but the fever keeps watch, tearing the flowers and the night
from the water]

Les chevaux boivent midi immobiles
au bord de l'enclos

[The horses drink at midday, motionless at paddock's edge]


Credo
[I believe]


Au commencement était l'enfance
jouant aux bords immenses du temps
avec la licorne
[In the beginning was childhood
playing at the immense borders of time
with the unicorn]


et les rires fusaient mêlés au bruit de leur course
dans les allées
[and the laughter mixed with the sound of their hooves and feet along the pathways]


Elle dormait sur l'escalier
et l'enfance dedans la tour
[The unicorn slept on the staircase
and childhood inside the tower]

T'en souviens-t'il?
aux bords immenses du Temps
où nous dormons
et d'où nous venons
[Do you recall it?
At the immense borders of Time
Where we sleep and whence we come].

L'aube seule le remémore:
l'instant d'or et sans retour de sa lumière
[Only Dawn recalls it:
The golden moment of her light which will not return]


Nous voulions faire une maison,
mon âme transie
et chercher de par la terre où la licorne gît
[We wanted to build a house, my perished soul
and search throughout the earth where the unicorn lies buried]


Je ne sais pour quelle raison
mais toujours nous nous en allons
toutes les aubes s'en vont
cherchant l'or,
le commencement
[I know not the reason, but still we go forth
All the Dawns go forth looking for the gold,
the beginning]

aux bords immenses du Temps.
[at the immense borders of Time].

©Marie Keyser - for the original French poem,
and
©David W Solomons for the English translation

Upload date

21 Jan 2012