Ninon Vallin sings 2 Hahn songs: L'Heure exquise - Tyndaris
The great French soprano sings two songs by Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947), with the composer at the piano.
Audio with a few pictures...I'm rather surprised these exquisite, simple, charming and historically significant recordings are not available on CD!
go here to view Ninon Vallin sing "Les Berceaux" by Gabriel Fauré:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d_nxUZ7a1g
L'Heure exquise - Text by Paul Verlaine
La lune blanche luit dans les bois.
De chaque branche part une voix
sous la ramée.
Ô bien aimée...
L'étang reflète, profond miroir,
la silhouette du saule noir
où le vent pleure.
Rêvons, c'est l'heure.
Un vaste et tendre
apaisement
semble descendre
du firmament
que l'astre irise.
C'est l'heure exquise!
The Time of Delight
The white moon shines in the woods.
From each branch springs a voice
beneath the arbor.
Oh my beloved...
The pond reflects, like a deep mirror,
the silhouette of the black willow
where the wind weeps.
Let us dream! It is the hour.
A vast and tender
calm
seems to descend
from a sky
made iridescent by the moon.
It is the exquisite hour!
Translation by Grant A. Lewis
recorded in Paris, 1929 (Odeon 188579), by Ninon Vallin with Reynaldo Hahn on piano
Hahn composed this song while still a student at the the Paris Conservatoire, and first sang it (he had a fine light baritone voice) in the presence of Verlaine himself.
.......
"Tyndaris" , from Études Latines, no. 7.
O blanche Tyndaris, les Dieux me sont amis:
Ils aiment les Muses Latines;
Et l'aneth et le myrte et le thym des collines
Croissent aux prés qu'ils m'ont soumis.
Viens! mes ramiers chéris, aux voluptés plaintives,
Ici se plaisent à gémir;
Et sous l'épais feuillage il est doux de dormir
Au bruit des sources fugitives.
Tyndaris
Oh, white Tyndaris, the gods are friends to me:
They love the Latin Muses;
And dill and myrtle and thyme from the hills
Thrive in the meadows they gave me.
Come! My beloved ring-doves, delighting in grief,
Here are pleased to moan;
And beneath dense leaves it is sweet to sleep
To the sound of running springs.
Translation from French to English by Richard Stokes
a text in French by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894) , from Poèmes antiques: Études latines
recorded in Paris, 1931 (Odeon 188741), by Ninon Vallin with Reynaldo Hahn on piano.