Pauline García Viardot - Hai luli - Cecilia Bartoli

Pauline García Viardot (1821-1910) "Hai luli" Text: Xavier de Maistre from "Les Prisonniers du Caucase" In this recording: Cecilia Bartoli / Chant d'amour (Mélodies françaises) Myung-Whung Chung (piano) (1996) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Garcia-Viardot Berlioz described singer and composer Pauline Viardot as "one of the greatest artists ... in the past and present history of music." Her musical and dramatic gifts were greatly acclaimed. The circle round her and her husband Louis Viardot was one of the most distinguished in Paris. Pauline García was born in Paris to a glamorous Spanish opera family, the great Garcias. As a young woman, she was overshadowed by her beautiful older sister, Maria Malibran, the "Enchantress of Nations" but her father, Manuel del Popolo Vicente García, made Pauline his favorite and trained her on the piano and also gave her singing lessons. After his death in 1832, her mother took over her lessons, and after her sister's death, Pauline was assigned to take over as a professional singer. Her vocal range was from F3 to C6. In her 150 appearances as Orpheus in Gluck's Orfeo et Euridice many agreed that she reached tragic heights rarely seen on stage. In 1862 Charles Dickens called this "a most extraordinary performance - full of quite sublime acting." As well as her phenomenal singing career, she found time to compose four operettas (three to librettos by her lover Ivan Turgenev), much vocal music and a few instrumental works. Robert Schumann's Op 24 and Saint-Saëns' Samson et Delila are dedicated to her. Her songs have actually entered the mainstream after being long neglected. Outside of the well-known vocal arrangements of Chopin's mazurkas, little was performed outside of the salons during her lifetime. Original text: Je suis triste, je m'inquiète, Je ne sais plus que devenir, Mon bon ami devait venir, Et je l'attends ici seulette. Hai luli ! Hai luli ! Où donc peut être mon ami ? Je m'assieds pour filer ma laine, Le fil se casse dans ma main... Allons, je filerai demain ; Aujourd'hui je suis trop en peine ! Hai luli ! Hai luli ! Qu'il fait triste sans son ami ! Si jamais il devient volage, S'il doit un jour m'abandonner, Le village n'a qu'à brûler, Et moi-même avec le village ! Hai luli ! Hai luli ! A quoi bon vivre sans son ami ? Translation: I am sad, I am worried, I am wondering what will happen, My loved one ought to come, And I await him here alone. Hai luli! Hai luli! Where can my love possibly be? I sit myself down to spin my wool, The thread breaks in my hand... Come, I will spin tomorrow; Today, I'm too full of sorrow! Hai luli! Hai luli! How sad it is without my love! If ever he turns fickle, If one day he should abandon me, The only thing for the village is to burn, And I with the village! Hai luli! Hai luli! What use is it to live without my love?