The Songs Of Henri Duparc

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THE SONGS OF HENRI DUPARC by Sydney Northcote Portrait of the Composer SYDNEY JiORTHCOTE D. Mm. Oxon. THE SONGS OF ENRI DUPARC ROY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK CONTENTS Preface 7 1. Introduction 13 2. Tlie Man 40 3. The Poets 59 4. The Songs 75 Chanson triste 77 Soupir 8 1 Le Galop 84 Au pays ou se fait la guerre 87 iJlnvitation au voyage 90 La vague et la cloche 94 Elegie 96 Extase 99 Le Manoir de Rosemonde 101 Serenade Jlorentine 103 PhidyU 105 Lamento 108 Testament no La Fie Anterieure 112 5.

Epilogue 115 Bibliography and List of Gramophone Recordings 120 p r i i A n JL Jtv H Jc A L T JL . i H n IS is, so far as I know, the first book in English on the life and work of Henri Duparc. But it is intended to serve as an introduction to the study of his songs rather than as a full-length biography.

For that would call for the intimate knowledge of someone like his sole surviving son, M. Henri Charles Duparc or his distinguished friend, M. P. de Breville or, as a beginning at any rate, the translation of Dr Charles Oulmonts Musique de Y amour To each of these I would here like to express my deepest obligations in the preparation of the present essay.

The form of the book calls for very little explanation and, I hope, no apology. It is designed to fulfil a certain logical principle in die study of song the appreciation of the song writer as a musician and as a man, the study of his poets as poets and, finally, the critical and interpretative analyses of the songs themselves.

That is what has been attempted here. Unfortunately, these are days when the study of song has been degraded by the clamour of vocal exhibitionism and the cult of popular modern perversions of the art. Too many singers demandthat a song shall suit them rather than that they should study it. And even when some kind of artistic interpretation is undertaken, too often it is a matter of personal sensationalism which reveals not the intrinsic truth of the song itself but the singers skill in the use of vocal cosmetics.

Preface A song is only smaller-scaled but no less complex or pro found than a symphony. It Is not that it is merely the art of the miniaturist. Rather it is the aesthetic marriage of music and poetry and vocal vanity is no just impediment to that. Composers, students and singers alike have a joint responsi bility in preserving, unsullied, the history and traditions of the oldest phase of activity in the whole history of music.

A few more acknowledgments must be noted. My grate ful thanks are due to M. Jacques Lerolle, the present publisher of Duparcs songs, Mrs Yolanda Duncan, Dr Thomas Walton and Mr Bruce Montgomery for their valuable in formation and guidance to my wife and my daughter, Sylvia, for their patient assistance.

S. N. Croydon 1949 List of Illustrations 1. Portrait of the Composer Frontispiece in the possession of the author 2. Duparc on the couch where he passed his facing p 64 days 1932. From Musique de amour Charles Oulmont Vol. 2. Published Desclee de Brouwer et Cie, Paris. 3 . Facsimile page of PhidyU. facing p 106 From Mtisiciens frangais dAujourcfhui Octave Sere Pub.

Mercure de France. Acknowledgments Thanks are due to Messrs Durand et Cie for permission to quote from le Galop, and to Messrs Rouart Lerolle et Cie for extracts from the rest of Duparcs works. None of the music in this volume may be used with out permission from die copyright owners. To YOLANDA and BRUCE for alltheir help and interest.