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Richard Peaslee | Hal Leonard Richard Peaslee Richard Peaslee was born in New York City and received his undergraduate degree in Music Composition from Yale University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. After serving two years in the U.S. Army, he received both a diploma and a Master of Science degree from The Juilliard School, in addition to studying privately with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and William Russo in New York and London. Peaslee has served on the faculty of the Lincoln Center Institute and New York University’s Music Theatre Program and is a former board member of The American Composers Orchestra and Jobs For Youth. He serves on the board of American Opera Projects and SCAN New York. A retrospective on his career was presented by Lincoln Center’s Composers’ Showcase at Alice Tully Hall. His concert works have been widely performed by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists, most notably the Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Buffalo Symphony Orchestras. His concerto for trombone, Arrows of Time, was premiered by the Seattle Symphony. Awards include The American Academy of Arts and Letters Marc Blitzstein Award; Obie and Villager Awards; as well as NEA and NYFA Fellowships. Richard Peaslee's music is published by Margun Music, a division of G. Schirmer, Inc. Boosey and Hawkes, E.C. Schirmer, Inc. and had been recorded on EMI, Columbia, Elektra, Musical Heritage Society and other labels. Publications by Richard Peaslee

Richard Saucedo | Hal Leonard Richard Saucedo Richard L. Saucedo retired in 2013 as Director of Bands and Performing Arts Department Chairman at Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana. During his 31-year tenure, Carmel bands received numerous state, regional and national honors in the areas of concert band, jazz and marching band. Under his direction, Carmel's Wind Symphony I performed at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival three times, and was named Indiana State Champion Concert Band most recently in 2013. The group also performed at the 2005 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. Carmel Jazz Ensembles won numerous awards at festivals in Indiana and throughout the Midwest, and the Carmel High School Marching Greyhounds finished in the top ten at the Bands of America Grand National Championship for 17 years under Saucedo and were named National Champions in 2005 and 2012. The Marching Band was the Indiana Class A State Champion four times. He was named Indiana Bandmasters' 1998-99 Bandmaster of the Year, and Indiana Music Educators Association's 2010 Outstanding Music Educator. His accomplishments have been highlighted in articles by HALFTIME and SCHOOL BAND AND ORCHESTRA magazines. He was inducted into the Music for All Hall of Fame in 2015. Mr. Saucedo is a freelance arranger and composer, having released numerous marching band arrangements, choral arrangements, and concert band and orchestral works. He is on the writing staff of Hal Leonard LLC. His compositions have been performed by middle school and high school bands all over the world, as well as by college and university groups. Nocturne, his first work for orchestra, was named most outstanding new composition at the 2009 National Orchestra Cup Festival at Lincoln Center. His most recent orchestra work, Essay #1, was premiered at the 2014 Midwest Clinic. Mr. Saucedo receives numerous commission requests, and will be releasing new works for university, high school and middle school bands throughout 2018-19. He is the author of two DVDs on rehearsing the marching band wind section, and is featured in two DVDs on concert band rehearsal techniques, all available at dynamicmarching.com. Mr. Saucedo travels around the world as an adjudicator, keynote speaker, clinician and guest conductor. He will appear in over 25 states during the 2018-19 school year. In July 2014, he was an adjudicator/clinician for the Singapore International Band Festival, and served as clinician and guest conductor at the Japan Band Clinic in May 2016. In September 2016, he presented at the Australian Band and Orchestra Clinic in Sydney. He was a featured clinician at the 2017 Midwest Clinic and the 2018 Texas Music Educators Association convention. He currently judges for Drum Corps International, and was the brass composer/arranger for the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps (Rosemont, IL) from 2000-2008. The Cavaliers won five DCI World Championships during his tenure. He also spent four years as the brass composer/arranger for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps (La Crosse, WI). He is an educational consultant for Music for All and Bands of America. He is a member of the Conn-Selmer Division of Education, and currently serves as assistant chief judge for Bands of America marching band competitions. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for United Sound, an organization whose mission is to give special needs students a chance to experience the joy of instrumental music performance through peer mentoring. Mr. Saucedo did his undergraduate work at Indiana University in Bloomington, and finished his master's degree at Butler University in Indianapolis. He is an aviation enthusiast and a certified private pilot. He is married to Sarah and is most proud of his two children - his daughter Carmen studied elementary education at Ball State and is now a teacher; his son Ethan is in 5th grade and plays basketball and studies piano and percussion. Publications by Richard Saucedo

Samuel R. Hazo | Hal Leonard Samuel R. Hazo Samuel R. Hazo (b. 1966) resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife and children. In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be awarded the winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association. He has composed for the professional, university and public school levels in addition to writing original scores for television, radio and the stage. His original symphonic compositions include performances with actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad and Richard Kiley. Most recently, Mr. Hazo was asked by the Newtown School District to compose the memorial for the children and women who were lost in the tragedy at their Sandy Hook Elementary School. The result was a major work for Choir, Orchestra and Wind Band combined titled "Glorificare." It was premiered in May of 2013 by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and VOCE Singers performing side-by-side with the Newtown High School musicians. Mr. Hazo also composed "Bridges," which he was requested to write by Virginia Tech University following their tragic shootings. In 2012, two of Mr. Hazo's compositions were performed at the London Summer Olympic Games. On the Internet, Mr. Hazo's music has compiled over three million hits on YouTube. His compositions have been performed and recorded world-wide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (national tour), the Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK) and the Klavier Wind Project’s recordings with Eugene Migliaro Corporon. Additionally, numerous titles of Mr. Hazo's works are included in the series "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band." He has served as composer-in-residence at Craig Kirchhoff’s University of Minnesota Conducting Symposium and has also lectured on music and music education at universities and high schools internationally. In 2004, Mr. Hazo's compositions were listed in a published national survey of the "Top Twenty Compositions of All Time" for wind band. He is a member of ASCAP and recipient of multiple ASCAPlus Awards. Samuel R. Hazo has been a music teacher at every educational grade level from kindergarten through college, including tenure as a high school and university director. He has been invited to guest conduct over 60 university ensembles and half of All-State bands in America. Mr. Hazo was twice named “Teacher of Distinction” by the southwestern Pennsylvania Teachers’ Excellence Foundation. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University where he served on the Board of Governors and was awarded as Duquesne’s Outstanding Graduate in Music Education. Mr. Hazo serves as a lecturer and clinician for Hal Leonard Corporation. He is also sponsored by Sibelius Music Software. Publications by Samuel R. Hazo

Dave & Jean Perry | Hal Leonard Dave & Jean Perry Dave and Jean Perry have been writing and publishing their songs for schools and churches for nearly 30 years. Their music has been performed by choirs in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, North America and Australia. They have over 250 songs in print and are recipients of special composer awards from ASCAP. Dave received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baker University and his Masters in Choral Music Education from Arizona State University. After spending 28 years as a high school choral director, he retired in order to devote more time to writing music. During his years as a choral music educator, he also taught musical theater, music theory, guitar and humanities. Dave also has 20 years of experience directing church youth choirs and five years experience as a director of a community college choir. He enjoys guest directing honor choirs and presenting workshops and interest sessions to high school choral directors. Dave is a recipient of the “Excellence in Teaching” award from the Arizona Music Educators Association. In the year 2000, he was selected as the “Arizona Music Educator of the Year” and also received the “Lifetime Recognition Award” from the Choral Directors of Arizona. In 2009, Dave received the “William E. Richardson Retired Music Educator Service Award” from the Arizona Music Educators Association. Jean began her music education studies at Baker University and completed her degree in Choral Music Education at Arizona State University. She spent 17 years as a junior high choral director and eight years as an elementary general music specialist and choir director before retiring in 2002. Jean now devotes a majority of her time to writing and composing. She travels throughout the United States working with choirs in clinic situations, presenting interest sessions to fellow teachers and directs regional honor choirs and Elementary and Junior High All-States. Honors received include the “Excellence in Teaching” award from the Arizona Music Educators Association, the “Teacher of the Month” award from Mesa Public Schools, the “Outstanding Choral Educator Award” for 2001 from the Arizona chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, the “Arizona Music Educator of the Year” for 2002, and the “Lifetime Recognition Award” from the Choral Directors of Arizona in 2004. In 2009, Jean received the “William E. Richardson Retired Music Educator Service Award” from the Arizona Music Educators Association.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman Music by Special Arrangement with Sony/ATV Publishing Adapted for the Stage by Jeremy Sams Based on the MGM Motion Picture Licensed Script Adapted by Ray Roderick Overview / Synopsis Take a fantastic musical adventure with an out-of-this-world car that flies through the air and sails the seas. Based on the record-breaking West End production and the beloved film, and featuring an unforgettable score by the Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang JR. is one blockbuster that audiences will find "Truly Scrumptious." Eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts, sets about restoring an old race car with the help of his children Jeremy and Jemima. They soon discover the car is magic, and has the ability to float and take flight. When the evil Baron Bomburst desires the magic car for himself, the family joins forces with Truly Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts to outwit the dastardly Baron and Baroness and their villainous henchman, the Child Catcher. Filled with amazing stage spectacle and unforgettable songs, including the Academy Award nominated title song, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang JR. is a high-flying fun-filled adventure that will dazzle audiences and Broadway Junior Stars alike. Audio Sampler - HL00219934 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00219924 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Scripts Director's Guide Piano/Vocal Score Piano/Vocal Score 2 Rehearsal/Accompaniment CDs Media Disc Choreography DVD 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 00219925 - Director's Guide $100.00 00219926 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00219927 - Actor's Script $10.00 00219928 - Actor's Script 10-pak $75.00 00219929 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CDs $75.00 00219930 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00219931 - Student Rehearsal CD 20-pak $100.00 00219932 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00219933 - Media Disc $10.00 00219934 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample MUSICAL NUMBERS You Two Them Three To the Sweet Factory Toot Sweets Chu-Chi Face Hushabye Mountain Me Ol' Bamboo Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Truly Scrumptious Chitty to the Rescue Vulgarian Town Square Teamwork The Bombie Samba Doll on a Music Box Jeremy Potts Jeremy and Jemima Potts are energetic children who are always up for an adventure. They are friends and do everything together, and their greatest wish is to save Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the junkyard. Cast two performers who work well together and are good actors and singers. It's helpful if these performers read as younger than Potts, Truly, and Grandpa onstage. Gender: Male Vocal Range: C4-Eb5 Jemima Potts Jeremy and Jemima Potts are energetic children who are always up for an adventure. They are friends and do everything together, and their greatest wish is to save Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from the junkyard. Cast two performers who work well together and are good actors and singers. It's helpful if these performers read as younger than Potts, Truly, and Grandpa onstage. Gender: Female Vocal Range: C4-Eb5 Chitty Chitty is the famous race car that beats the Vulgarians multiple times in the Grand Prix. Feel free to cast four to eight actors to create this magical car. While the car should have a distinct personality and a mind of its own, make sure the performers cast to operate the car work as an excellent team. They should be singers who are very comfortable onstage. Gender: Both Caractacus Potts Caractacus Potts is Jeremy and Jemima's father. He is an eccentric inventor who cares deeply about his children. Cast an experienced performer with a great voice who is very comfortable onstage. The role was played by Dick Van Dyke in the film version, and he's a great example: a charming, charismatic leading man with great comic timing. (Referred to as POTTS in the script.) Gender: Male Vocal Range: C3-Eb4 Mr. Coggins Mr. Coggins owns Coggins Garage and ultimately sells Chitty to Potts and the children. Cast a good actor who can portray Mr. Coggins's humor and kindness. This role is non-singing. Gender: Male Junkman The Junkman is mean and a bit scary. Cast a good actor who can lean into this character's threatening persona. This role is non-singing. Gender: Male Truly Scrumptious Truly Scrumptious is the smart, confident, adventurous daughter of Lord Scrumptious who quickly earns the Potts family's trust. Cast a fantastic singer, actor, and dancer who pairs well with the Potts family and can command the stage. Gender: Female Vocal Range: C4-D5 Grandpa Grandpa loves Jeremy, Jemima, and Potts with all his heart. Though his experience in the military drives many of his interactions, underneath all his bluster, the most important thing to Grandpa is his family. Cast a great actor and a good singer who is unafraid to make bold choices onstage. Gender: Male Vocal Range: C3-C4 Miss Phillips Miss Phillips is the no-nonsense assistant to Lord Scrumptious. This is a great feature for someone who can create a strong character but might not be quite ready for a larger role. Miss Phillips does not have a singing solo, so cast a good actor with good stage presence. Gender: Female Lord Scrumptious Lord Scrumptious is the all-powerful owner of the candy factory. Cast a strong, confident performer who is comfortable commanding the stage and pairs well with Truly. This role is non- singing. Gender: Male Baron The Baron and Baroness are larger- than-life villains. Cast excellent performers who can act, sing, dance, and who aren't afraid to chew the scenery a bit. The Baron and Baroness should pair together well and embody both the comically inept villain and the real threat to the Potts family. Gender: Male Vocal Range: D3-C#4 Baroness The Baron and Baroness are larger- than-life villains. Cast excellent performers who can act, sing, dance, and who aren't afraid to chew the scenery a bit. The Baron and Baroness should pair together well and embody both the comically inept villain and the real threat to the Potts family. Gender: Female Vocal Range: C4-D5 Boris Boris and Goran are the worst spies ever. These comical roles play off each another throughout the entire show and have some of the funniest dialogue, so cast two hilarious performers who can really land a joke. Boris and Goran do not sing but should be good movers since they have some physical comedy. Gender: Male Goran Boris and Goran are the worst spies ever. These comical roles play off each another throughout the entire show and have some of the funniest dialogue, so cast two hilarious performers who can really land a joke. Boris and Goran do not sing but should be good movers since they have some physical comedy. Gender: Male Morris Dancers The Morris Dancers perform during "Me Ol' Bamboo." Cast good singers and great dancers who can carry the number. Gender: Both Fair Announcer The Fair Announcer kicks off the Fun Fair by introducing the Morris Dancers. This is a great role for a newer performer who might not be ready to take on a large role. Make sure this actor has a big voice! Gender: Both Violet Violet and Sid are great featured roles, and they are involved in a bit of stage magic during "Me Ol' Bamboo." Cast good actors and responsible performers who can perform the staging the same way for each performance. Gender: Female Sid Violet and Sid are great featured roles, and they are involved in a bit of stage magic during "Me Ol' Bamboo." Cast good actors and responsible performers who can perform the staging the same way for each performance. Gender: Male Turkey Farmer The Turkey Farmer has a brief scene after "Me Ol' Bamboo." This is a good place for an actor who can make a big impression in a short amount of time. This role is non-singing. Gender: Both Soldiers Soldier 1 and Soldier 2 are the Baron and Baroness's lackeys. These are great non- singing, featured roles for newer performers. Gender: Both Toymaker The Toymaker has been secretly working to save children right under the Baron and Baroness's noses. The Toymaker is compassionate, clever, and never gives up trying to help people. Cast a great actor and a good singer to portray the Toymaker's kindness. The Toymaker should be a total contrast to the Child Catcher. Gender: Male Vocal Range: C#3-A3 Toby Toby, Marta, and Greta are Hidden Children who help Potts plan Jeremy and Jemima's rescue. They should be fine actors and good singers who shine onstage. Gender: Male Vocal Range: C3-A3 Marta Toby, Marta, and Greta are Hidden Children who help Potts plan Jeremy and Jemima's rescue. They should be fine actors and good singers who shine onstage. Gender: Female Vocal Range: C4-Bb4 Greta Toby, Marta, and Greta are Hidden Children who help Potts plan Jeremy and Jemima's rescue. They should be fine actors and good singers who shine onstage. Gender: Female Vocal Range: D4-A4 Chef 1 An ensemble role featured in "Toot Sweets". Gender: Both Vocal Range: G4-Ab4 Chef 2 An ensemble role featured in "Toot Sweets". Gender: Both Vocal Range: G4-C5 Ensemble The ensemble for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang JR. is made up of a myriad of vibrant characters including Chef 1, Chef 2, Chef 3, additional Chefs, Workers, Townspeople, Dogs, Soldiers, Star Chorus, Fairgoers, Seagulls, Vulgarians, and Hidden Children. All of these characters help fill out the world of the show, so the bolder your actors' choices the better. Gender: Both Child Catcher The Child Catcher is a villain with none of the Baron and Baroness's humor. Cast a performer who isn't afraid to be terrifying! The Child Catcher doesn't sing but should be a great actor. Gender: Both

Disney's & Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Original Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman Book by Julian Fellowes New Songs and Additional Music and Lyrics by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles Co-Created by Cameron Mackintosh A Musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney Film Overview / Synopsis Delight your audience with a show that's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Follow Jane and Michael Banks on fantastical adventures with their new nanny as she helps the Banks family in more ways than one. Based on the books by P.L. Travers and the classic Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins JR. includes a score filled with timeless classics as well as charming new songs written especially for this adaptation. Audio Sampler - HL00239827 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00239815 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Scripts Director's Guide Piano/Vocal Score 2 Rehearsal/Accompaniment CDs Choreography DVD Media Disc 30 Family Matters Booklets 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 00239816 - Director's Guide $100.00 00239818 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00239819 - Actor's Script $10.00 00239820 - Actor's Script 10-pak $75.00 00239821 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CDs $75.00 00239822 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00239824 - Student Rehearsal CD 20-pak $100.00 00239825 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00239826 - Media Disc $10.00 00239827 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Prologue Cherry Tree Lane (Part 1) The Perfect Nanny Cherry Tree Lane (Part 2) Practically Perfect Jolly Holiday Winds Do Change A Spoonful of Sugar Precision and Order (Part 1) Precision and Order (Part 2) A Man Has Dreams Feed the Birds Supercalifragilistic- expialidocious Twists and Turns Playing the Game / Chim Chim Cher-ee Brimstone and Treacle (Part 1) Let's Go Fly a Kite Brimstone and Treacle (Part 2) Step in Time Anything Can Happen (Part 1) Give Us The Word Anything Can Happen (Part 2) Goodbye Then, Mary Anything Can Happen (Finale) Bert The narrator of the story, is a good friend to Mary Poppins. An everyman, Bert is a chimney sweep and a sidewalk artist, among many other occupations. With a twinkle in his eye and a skip in his step, Bert watches over the children and the goings-on around Cherry Tree Lane. He is a song-and-dance man with oodles of charm who is wise beyond his years. Cast your strongest male singer, dancer, and actor in this role. Gender: Male Vocal range: B2-F4 George Banks Husband to Winifred and father to Jane and Michael, is a banker to the very fiber of his being. Demanding "precision and order" in his household, he is a pip-and-slippers man who doesn't have much to do with his children and believes that Miss Andrew, his cruel, strict childhood nanny, gave him the perfect upbringing. George's emotional armor, however off-putting, conceals a sensitive soul. A baritone, George may speak-sing as necessary and should be among your strongest male actors and singers. Gender: Male Vocal range: Bb2-F4 Winifred Banks George's wife and Jane and Michael's mother. She is a loving homemaker who is busy trying to live up to her husband's social aspirations while striving to be a model wife and mother. Cast an actor who can portray a great warmth and depth of feeling. Winifred should have a pure vocal tone and be one of your stronger actors and singers. Gender: Female Vocal range: A3-Eb5 Jane Banks The high-spirited daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Banks, bright and precocious but can be willful and inclined to snobbishness. Cast a wonderful actor and a strong singer who can take the audience on an emotional journey. Gender: Female Vocal range: A3-Eb5 Michael Banks The cheeky son of Mr. and Mrs. Banks. Excitable and naughty, he adores his father and longs desperately for his attention. Both he and Jane misbehave in order to get the attention of their parents. Michael should be a great actor and singer. Ideally, he reads onstage as younger than Jane. Gender: Male Vocal range: A3-E5 Mrs. Brill The housekeeper and cook for the Banks family. Overworked, she's always complaining that the house is understaffed. Her intimidating exterior is a cover for the warmth underneath. She does not have to be a strong singer, but she should be a solid actor. Gender: Female Robertson Ay The houseboy to the Banks family. Forgetful and clumsy, he often bungles simple tasks. He doesn't do a lot of singing, but he should be a good comedic actor. Note: his last name is pronounced like "eye." Gender: Male Mary Poppins Jane and Michael Banks's new nanny. She is extraordinary and strange, neat and tidy, delightfully vain yet very particular, and sometimes a little frightening, but she is always exciting. She is practically perfect in every way and always means what she says. The role calls for an excellent singer and actor who should be able to move well. Since she carries a majority of the show, precision and diction are key. Gender: Female Vocal range: G3-F5 Ensemble Groups & Featured Roles All ensembles require group singing; featured roles require either solo singing or solo acting, or both. For each featured role, the pages showcasing the character's lines or vocals are listed. Ensemble & Featured Characters include: Katie Nanna, Park Strollers, Statues, Neleus, Bird Woman, Honeybees, Clerks, Miss Smythe, Chariman, Von Hussler, John Northbrook, Vagrants, Buskers, Passerby, Mrs. Corry, Customers, Miss Andrew, Kite Flyers, Chimney Sweeps, Policeman and the Messenger. Katie Nanna Katie Nanna is Jane and Michael's nanny at the beginning of the show. Overwhelmed and upset, she has absolutely had her fill of the Banks children. This role is perfect for a performer who is not quite ready for a larger role. Gender: Female Park Strollers The Park Strollers are citizens of London who go from drab and dreary to bright and colorful as they get swept up in Mary Poppins's adventures in the park. Gender: Both Statues The Statues are stone sculptures. Thanks to Mary Poppins, these works of art come alive and dance with Bert and the Park Strollers. Gender: Both Neleus Neleus is a statue who, once brought to life by Mary Poppins, is very happy to befriend Jane and Michael. This role is a wonderful opportunity to feature one of the strong dancers in your ensemble. Gender: Both Vocal range: Bb4-Eb5 Bird Woman The Bird Woman is covered in a patchwork of old shawls, her pockets stuffed with bags of crumbs for the birds. She tries to sell the crumbs to Passersby, who ignore her as if she doesn't exist. While she should be a good singer, there can be a gruff, folksy quality to her voice that reflects the difficulties of her situation. Gender: Female Vocal range: G3-D5 Honeybees The Honeybees are conjured by Mary Poppins to help teach the children the benefits of "A Spoonful of Sugar." These roles require good movers who can sing. Gender: Both Clerks The Clerks, like George, are employees at the bank. These roles require actors who can sing. Gender: Both Miss Smythe Miss Smythe is the bank Chairman's humorless secretary. This smaller role is great for a performer who is new to the stage. Gender: Female Chairman Chairman, the head of the bank where Mr. Banks is employed, is an Edwardian stuffed shirt. He does not need to be a strong singer, but he should be a good actor with great stage presence. Gender: Male Von Hussler Von Hussler is a businessman seeking a loan from the bank for a shady business deal. This is a great character role for a fantastic actor who can command the stage with pomposity. Gender: Male John Northbrook John Northbrook is an honest businessman seeking a loan to build a factory for his community. This is a great role for a good actor and solid singer who may not be ready to tackle a large part. Gender: Male Vocal range: C3-D4 Vagrants, Buskers, and Passerby Vagrants, Buskers, and Passerby are citizens of London passing by the cathedral during "Feed the Birds." They can also be played by the Park Strollers earlier in the show. Gender: Both Mrs. Corry Mrs. Corry owns a magical Talking Shop. She is a mysterious woman of indeterminate age, but has plenty of spirit and is sharp as a tack. Cast an excellent actor who's not afraid to be over the top in this fun role. Gender: Female Miss Andrew Miss Andrew is George's overbearing and scary childhood nanny. With her bottle of nasty- tasting brimstone and treacle to keep naughty children in line, she is a bully who only knows one way of doing things: her way. Cast one of your stronger singers in this featured role. Gender: Female Vocal range: G#3-D5 Kite Flyers Kite Flyers consist of families flying kites in the park. They can also be comprised of the same ensemble members as the Park Strollers, the Passersby, and Mrs. Corry's Customers. Gender: Both Chimney Sweeps Chimney Sweeps (including Sweep 1, Sweep 2, Sweep 3, and Sweep 4) are Bert's cheerful, friendly, and agile friends who keep London's chimneys in working order. These actors should be great dancers and good singers, capable of bringing the show-stopping number "Step In Time" to life. Gender: Both Policeman and the Messenger The Policeman, a neighborhood patrol officer, and the Messenger, who delivers a summons to George from the bank, are great roles for students new to the stage that might not be ready for a large role. Gender: Both

Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. is not available for licensing at this time. MTI and the authors are refurbishing the materials, please check back for updates. Credits Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan New Music by Jeanine Tesori New Lyrics by Dick Scanlan Overview / Synopsis Thoroughly Modern Millie is the zany new 1920's musical romp that will have everyone dancing the Charleston! Taking place in New York City in 1922, Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of young Millie Dillmount, who has just moved to the city in search of a new life for herself. It's a New York full of intrigue and jazz - a time when women were entering the workforce and the rules of love and social behavior were changing forever. Filled with frisky flappers, dashing leading men and a dragon-lady of a villainess audiences will love to hate, you'll present a perfectly constructed evening of madcap merriment. Songs include: Not for the Life of Me / Thoroughly Modern Millie, Not for the Life of Me (Tag), Not for the Life of Me (Reprise), The Speed Test, What Do I Need With Love, Jimmy, Back at Work, Forget About the Boy, Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life / I'm Falling in Love with Someone, I Turned the Corner, Muqin, Long As I'm Here With You, Gimme Gimme, The Speed Test (Reprise), Ah! Sweet Mystery (Reprise), Finale. Audio Sampler - HL08750921 $10.00 ShowKit - HL09971362 $600.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Libretto/Vocal Books Piano/Vocal Score Director's Script 2 Performance/Accompaniment CDs Choreography DVD 30 Family Matters Booklets Production Handbook Cross-Curricular Book 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 09971364 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 09971365 - Director's Script $50.00 09971363 - Libretto/Vocal Book $10.00 09971367 - Libretto/Vocal Book 10 Pak $75.00 09971358 - Performance/Accompaniment CD $75.00 09971366 - Choreography DVD $50.00 09971369 - Student Rehearsal CDs $10.00 09971370 - Student Rehearsal CDs 20 Pak $100.00 08750921 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. is not available for licensing at this time. MTI and the authors are refurbishing the materials, please check back for updates. Hear A Sample Not for the Life of Me/Thoroughly Modern Millie Not for the Life of Me (Tag) Not for the Life of Me (Reprise) The Speed Test What Do I Need with Love Jimmy Back At Work Forget About the Boy Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life / I'm Falling in Love with Someone I Turned the Corner Mugin Long as I'm Here with You Gimme Gimme Gimme Gimme (Tag) The Speed Test (Reprise) Ah! Sweet Mystery (Reprise) Finale Bows Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. is not available for licensing at this time. MTI and the authors are refurbishing the materials, please check back for updates. Millie Millie is the sweet, classic ingï¿½nue with pluck. The role requires excellent vocal chops; in fact, no other character in the Broadway Junior collection of shows sings as much as Millie. The role of Millie is the perfect star turn for that extra special performer. Cast a young woman with an excellent Broadway style voice with lots of stamina. Millie must also have charisma, a great sense of comedy, good acting skills and be able to hold her own as a dancer. Jimmy Jimmy is our male counterpart to Millie. Self-assured and cocky, cast a Jimmy who is charming, a great singer, a reasonable mover and who has a good sense of comic timing. Jimmy should be attractive in a cute, goofy sort of way. Mrs. Meers Mrs. Meers is the villain of our story. Think Cruella DeVille meets Miss Hannigan. Cast an over-the-top "scenery chewer" who has an excellent sense of comedic timing. Miss Dorothy Miss Dorothy is the perfect role for a young lady with a voice that is more classical than Broadway. She should be attractive, a good actress and should contrast physically with Millie. Miss Flannery Miss Flannery is the office manager. She's uptight (think librarian) and stern, a real no-nonsense kind of gal. Cast an up-and-comer who's not quite ready for a huge lead, but is definitely ready to break out of the chorus. Having tap skills and a good sense of comedy are definite pluses for this gem of a role. Ching Ho and Bun Foo Ching Ho and Bun Foo are brothers and emigrants from China. These two are working to bring their dear mother to the United States from China. While it's nice to cast performers of Asian descent in these roles, it is not always possible. These characters must learn some Chinese, so cast kids who live for great challenges and have a keen sense of adventure. Ching Ho must be played by a boy and is the more demanding role; Bun Foo can be played by a girl. These characters sing, dance, and act, all in Chinese. Trevor Graydon Trevor Graydon the Third is Millie's boss and she's determined to marry him. Cast your best-looking singer who's not afraid to be a bit of a goof ball. The Hotel Priscilla Girls The Hotel Priscilla Girls, are the fellow boarders at the Hotel Priscilla. If possible vary them widely in size, shape, color and attitude. They should be good singers and actresses. The girls with solo lines include: Ruth Gloria Rita Alice Cora Lucille Ethel Peas Mama Mama is Ching Ho and Bun Foo's mother from China. She makes a surprise cameo appearance during the finale of the show. This is a great walk-on part for the principal, a local celebrity or parent. No singing, no dancing involved. Ensemble The cast can be expanded in many ways and in many places. You can augment the ladies staying at the Hotel Priscilla. Street scenes, the speakeasy, the jail scene, etc. offer innumerable opportunities for many, many students to participate.

Xanadu Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Book by Douglas Carter Beane Music and Lyrics by by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar Based on the Universal Pictures film with a screenplay by Richard Danus & Marc Rubel Overview / Synopsis One Act, Book Musical, Rated G Broadway Junior Version A Greek muse inspires love, laughter and the world's first Roller Disco in this 1980s glitter explosion. (60-MINUTE VERSION FOR YOUNG PERFORMERS) This Tony Award-nominated hilarious, roller skating, musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar and has been adapted for the MTI Broadway Junior Collection. Based on the Universal Pictures' cult classic movie of the same title, which starred Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, XANADU JR. is hilarity on wheels for adults, children and anyone who has ever wanted to feel inspired. The year is 1980. Somewhere along the beach in Venice, California, Sonny Malone becomes frustrated with the mural he has painted of the nine muses of Greek mythology. After he storms off in frustration, the Muses come to life (I'm Alive) and Kira (a.k.a. Clio), Sonny's Muse, hatches a plan to inspire Sonny to artistic greatness. Kira disguises herself as a regular mortal from Australia and arrives at the Santa Monica pier just in time to rescue Sonny. Kira begins her work (Magic), and Sonny reveals his dream to open a roller disco. Inspiring Sonny brings Kira one step closer to being granted the gift of Xanadu. This infuriates sister Muses, Melpomene and Calliope, who hatch a plan to curse Kira so she falls in love with Sonny, a mortal, which is forbidden (Evil Woman). Sonny and Kira meet again in front of a rundown theater and receive a sign that things are coming together to fulfill Sonny's dream (Suddenly). Sonny meets with Danny, the owner of the theater, who is not interested in Sonny's plan until Kira enters and reminds him of someone he knew long ago (Whenever You're Away From Me). In a flashback, we learn that Kira once came to Danny disguised as the southern belle, Kitty, and inspired him to build the old theater. Melpomene and Calliope hide in the abandoned theater and await the arrival of Kira and Sonny so they can curse them and make them fall in love. Danny and Sonny run into each other at the theater, which is named Xanadu, and share their individual visions for its restoration (Dancin'). Danny agrees to give Sonny the theater if he can fix it up by the end of the day. Kira arrives, and they begin planning, providing Melpomene and Calliope with the moment they have been waiting for (Strange Magic). Left with only one hour to restore the theater, the Muses enter and help with the job (All Over The World). With the theater restored, Danny is back in show business, and Sonny's dreams are coming true. The two of them admire the Xanadu sign, while Kira receives a message via Hermes from Zeus reminding her of the rules she must live by. Realizing her feelings, Kira tries to leave, but Sonny begs her to stay (Don't Walk Away). Kira gets away and her evil sisters talk Danny into selling them the theater. Kira returns to Venice Beach to re-enter the mural, having failed in her quest to inspire Sonny and achieve Xanadu for herself. Confronted by her sisters and Sonny, the truth comes out, and she leaves, flying on Pegasus, back to Mount Olympus (Suspended in Time). Kira is brought before Zeus, Aprhodite, Thetis, and Hera to answer for what she has done. Zeus proclaims his sentence, but the others beg his mercy (Have You Never Been Mellow). Zeus pardons Kira, and Sonny arrives at Mount Olympus to profess his love. Zeus decrees that Kira shall return to Earth as a mortal to be with Sonny. He grants her the gift of Xanadu. XANADU JR. is a moving, electrifying tale of endless fun that will keep audiences in stitches, while the original, legendary chart-topping tunes lift them out of their seats. Filled with 80s nostalgia, students will love to strap on their roller skates and perform this silly comedic gem. With a flexible cast size, XANADU JR. is a great choice for groups looking to use a smaller cast size but can easily be expanded for larger groups. You'll want to keep the music in your head, and XANADU JR! in your heart, forever. Audio Sampler - HL00114416 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00114406 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Books Choreography DVD Director's Guide 30 Family Matters Booklets Media Disk 2 Performance/Accompaniment CDs Piano/Vocal Score 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 00114407 - Director's Guide $100.00 00114408 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00114409 - Actor's Script $10.00 00114410 - Actor's Script 10-Pak $75.00 00114411 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD $75.00 00114412 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00114413 - Student Rehearsal CD 20-Pak $100.00 00114414 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00114415 - Media Disc $10.00 00114416 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Pure Imagination I'm Alive (Part 1) I'm Alive (Part 2) Magic Evil Woman Suddenly Whenever You're Away From Me (Part 1) Whenever You're Away From Me (Part 2) Dancin' Strange Magic All Over The World Don't Walk Away Suspended In Time Have You Never Been Mellow Xanadu Cast Size Large (over 20) Cast Type Children in Cast, Ensemble Cast - Many featured roles, Star Vehicle - Female, Star Vehicle - Male Dance Requirement Heavy (Extensive Dance Sections/Solos) APRHODITE The Goddess of Love. Range: E3-C4 CALLIOPE Muse of Epics, is Melpomene's "Wing-Muse". She is equally devious and listens closely to her sister's direction. Range: G3-E5 DANNY MAGUIRE A real estate magnate and owner of the Xanadu theater. He goes from being guarded about protecting the theater to becoming partners with Sonny and then betraying him. Range: G2-C4 ENSEMBLE Eros, Cyclops, Centaur, Medusa, and the Greek Chorus HERA Zeus' wife and is known for her comparable status to her husband. Range: E4-C5 HERMES A hilarious cameo role for a performer with excellent comedic skills. KIRA The Greek heroine and loveable, young ingï¿½nue. She begins the play as Clio, the youngest and the most idealistic of the Muses. With the addition of leg warmers and an Australian accent, she quickly becomes Kira to help Sonny realize his dreams. She is ambitious, smart and like Sonny, pure of heart. Range: G3-E5 MELPOMENE Muse of Tragedy, is the eldest of the Muses and is most responsible for plotting against Kira. Range: G3-F5 OTHER MUSES Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Urania SIRENS Melpomene's nine alluring daughters. SONNY MALONE The young male lead from the beaches of California. He is wide-eyed, full of dreams and can be a bit sensitive; after all, he is an artist! While Sonny may not be the brightest, he is very sincere and earnest. Range: G3-Bb4 THE ANDREWS SISTERS (Maxine, Patty and Laverne) An exact duplicate of the Andrews Sisters that were famous in the 1940s. Range: B3-Eb5 THE TUBES An iconic, hard-rockin' new-wave band of the 80s. Range: A3-G#4 THETIS The Goddess of the Sea who tells the pivotal story of Achilles and his vulnerable heel, which in turn, changes Kira's perspective about really loving Sonny. Range: C4-E5 ZEUS The King of the Gods Range: E3-D4

Disney's 101 Dalmatians KIDS - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music and Lyrics by Mel Leven, Randy Rogel, Richard Gibbs, Brian Smith, Martin Lee Fuller and Dan Root Book Adapted and Additional Lyrics by Marcy Heisler Music Adapted and Arranged by Bryan Louiselle Based on the Screenplay by Bill Peet Based on the Novel "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" by Dodie Smith Overview / Synopsis Based on the classic animated film, Disney's 101 Dalmatians KIDS is a fur-raising adventure featuring Cruella De Vil, Disney's most outrageous villain, and 101 of the most adorable heroes to set their paws onstage. With a high-spirited score and lovable characters, this stage adaptation is certain to charm and delight all audiences. Pet owners, Roger and Anita, live happily in London with their Dalmatians, Pongo and Perdita, stalwart dogs devoted to raising their puppies. Everything is quiet until Anita's former classmate, the monstrous Cruella De Vil, plots to steal the puppies for her new fur coat. The Dalmatians rally all the dogs of London for a daring rescue of the puppies from Cruella and her bumbling henchmen. The show's adorable spotted dogs and larger-than-life villainess provide ample opportunities for creative costuming. With a highly expandable chorus, your stage could easily be filled with 101 budding performers. Audio Sampler - HL00839432 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00839431 $545.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Student Scripts Piano/Vocal Score Director's Script Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD Choreography DVD 30 Family Matters Booklets 30-Minute KIDS Request Individual Components 00839419 - Director's Guide $100.00 00839420 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00839421 - Libretto/Vocal Score $10.00 00849422 - Libretto/Vocal Score 10-pak $75.00 00839432 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Dalmatian Conga [All, Cruella, Roger, Anita] Thunderbolt Adventure Hour [Groups 1-2] Kanine Krunchies [Pups, All, Cruella] Cruella De Vil [Roger, All] Cruella's Scheme [Cruella, Horace, Jasper] Kanine Krunchies (Reprise) [Cruella, Jasper, Horace] The Fur Vault [Narrators] Twilight Bark [Boxers, Scotties, Poodles, Chihuahuas, All] My Beautiful Coat [Cruella, Horace, Jasper, All, Puppies, Sgt. Tibbs] The Chase [Jasper, Puppies, Horace, Cruella] Dalmatian Plantation & Finale [All] Bow Wows [All] Cast of Characters Cast Size: Medium (11 to 20 performers) Cast Type: Children Dance Requirements: Standard Roger Roger, married to Anita, is the soft-spoken yet confident composer and owner of Pongo and Perdita. His relaxed form of leadership acts as a contrast to the frenetic Cruella. He should be a strong actor, singer, and mover with an adult bearing that sets him apart from the more immature puppies. Gender: Male Vocal range top: B4 Vocal range bottom: A#2 Anita Anita, wife of Roger, is a sweet and nurturing painter whose kind disposition acts as a stark contrast to Cruella's cruelty. As she has only a single line to sing, cast an actor with strong acting skills who is comfortable portraying an adult. Gender: Female Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: D4 Perdita and Pongo Perdita and Pongo, the puppies' parents, have similar dispositions to their owners, Roger and Anita. These roles do not require solo singing, so focus on casting strong actors capable of projecting a more mature presence than their pups. Gender: Any Cruella De Vil Cruella is the rich, fashion-forward antagonist of the story who harbors a penchant for puppy fur. Ruthless and impulsive, she should command the stage with dramatic flair and brassiness. Cast an actor who can sing with a strong, authoritative presence and who can move with a high, captivating energy. Gender: Female Vocal range top: C4 Vocal range bottom: Ab3 Horace and Jasper Horace and Jasper, Cruella's two henchmen for hire, provide the show's comic relief a la Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy. Though they sing together often, look for actors with strong comedic timing who can excel at physical comedy. While not necessary, these two can speak with Cockney accents if you have actors that are capable and willing. Gender: Male Vocal range top: B4 Vocal range bottom: Ab3 Nanny Nanny is the warm yet outspoken housekeeper to Roger and Anita. This is a small role that requires a strong speaking voice (no singing required). Gender: Female Boxer Narrator, Scottie Narrator, Poodle Narrator, and Corgi Narrator Boxer Narrator, Scottie Narrator, Poodle Narrator, and Corgis Narrator help to tell the story and are part of your Dogs of London ensemble (see above). Because the clarity of the plot relies on them, cast performers with excellent diction and projection. You need not only have four narrators feel free to split up the narration between ensemble members as best suits your production. Gender: Any Lucky, Patch, Penny, and Pepper Perdita and Pongo's funny and spirited pups, can be cast from your larger puppy ensemble. Cast the group's strongest actors that can project their solo lines articulately and are comfortable using their bodies to portray dogs. If you have a large pool of actors, feel free to cast other puppies as brothers and sisters to these four; just remember that the audience needs to see a far greater number of Dalmatians at the end of the show than at the beginning. Gender: Any Freckles and Spotty Freckles and Spotty, two Dalmatian puppies stolen by Cruella, can be cast from your ensemble of additional Dalmatians. Each puppy has one solo line of dialogue. Gender: Any Police Officer The Police Officer arrests the villains at the end of the show. Cast an actor who can convey a no-nonsense attitude in this gender-neutral role. Gender: Any Sergeant Tibbs Sergeant Tibbs is the army cat that rallies the Dogs of London to rescue the puppies. This role is gender neutral just be sure to cast an actor with a strong voice that can project an authoritative air. This cat has a short, but sweet solo, so make sure vocals are strong. Gender: Any Vocal range top: Bb4 Vocal range bottom: G4 Other Puppies Dognapped by Cruella, these Dalmatian pups come in halfway through the play and can be double-cast as your Dogs of London ensemble. Include as many puppies in this group as you would like the more the better! Gender: Any Dogs of London The Dogs of London include the Boxers, Scotties, Poodles, and Corgis that assist Perdita and Pongo in saving their puppies. All should be comfortable embodying the physical movement of their particular breed. Within the ensemble numbers, there are some opportunities for solos, though these can be sung by pairs or small groups depending on your production's needs and the abilities of your cast. Gender: Any Dogcatcher The Dogcatcher appears at show's end to dramatically remove Cruella from the scene. This role is gender neutral, so cast any student who might excel at creating a few moments of physical comedy with Cruella. Gender: Any

Disney's Aristocats KIDS - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, Al Rinker and Floyd Huddleston, Terry Gilkyson Music Adapted and Arranged and Additional music and Lyrics by Bryan Louiselle Book Adapted and Additional Lyrics by Michael Bernard Based on the 1970 Disney film "The Aristocats" Overview / Synopsis Madame's jealous butler, Edgar, cat-naps Duchess and her kittens and abandons them in the Parisian countryside. What's a cat to do? Luckily, Thomas O'Malley and his rag-tag bunch of Alley Cats come to their rescue! With a beloved Disney score, the feline adventure in The Aristocats KIDS is sure to get your audiences tapping their feet to its hip, jazzy beat. Audio Sampler - HL00298986 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00298990 $545.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Student Scripts Piano/Vocal Score Director's Script Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD Choreography DVD 30 Family Matters Booklets 30-Minute KIDS Request Individual Components 00298972 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00298971 - Director's Guide $100.00 00298973 - Actor's Script $10.00 00298974 - Actor's Script Book 10 Pak $75.00 00298976 - Performance/Rehearsal CD $75.00 00298983 - Choreography DVD $50.00 00298985 - Media Disk $10.00 00298978 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00298980 - Student Rehearsal CD 20 Pak $100.00 00298986 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Prologue / The Aristocats [Alley Cats, Scat Cat, Duchess, Toulouse, Marie, Berlioz, Aristocats, Madame, All, Edgar] Scales and Arpeggios [Kittens, Aristocats, Duchess, Edgar, Roquefort] 'Night, Kittens [Edgar] Use Your Nose [Napoleon, Dogs] O'Malley Enters [O'Malley] Thomas O'Malley Cats [Groups, All, O'Malley, Alley Cats, Duchess] The Gabble Girls [Amelia, Abigail, O'Malley, Aristocats] Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat [Scat Cat, O'Malley, Wacky, Hep, Mad, Slick, Berlioz, Alley Cats, Toulouse, Marie, All] Back Home [Alley Cats] Cat Wash [Edgar] Roquefort to the Rescue [Roquefort, Aristocats] Somebody is Looking for a Cat [Alley Cats, Roquefort] Use Your Nose (Reprise) [Dogs] The Gabble Girls (Reprise) [Amelia, Abigail] The Butler Did It! / Finale [Aristocats, Edgar, Abigail, Amelia, Napoleon, Animals, Cats, Roquefort, Dogs, Geese] Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat (Reprise) [All, Audience] Thomas O'Malley Thomas O'Malley, an alley cat, is the charming and charismatic lead alley cat. He lives as a free spirit with no attachments but secretly desires to be part of a family. This role requires a strong actor, singer, and mover. He should also be comfortable flirting with the actress playing Duchess. When auditioning, mix and match your O'Malley and Duchess hopefuls into different pairs and look for the best chemistry. The success of the show largely hinges on the energy of this leading cat so cast your strongest performer in this role. Duchess Duchess is the elegant and nurturing mother of the Aristokittens. This leading role requires small group singing, but no solos, so cast your strongest actor and mover, rather than singer. Look for a mature actress who is able to convey a maternal figure. Try to audition Duchess hopefuls with O'Malleys and Aristokittens to see who works best together. Edgar Edgar is the villainous butler of Madame. He's allergic to the pampered Aristocats and secretly hates tending to them. This leading part requires one of your strongest and most mature performers with excellent acting and singing skills. Cast an actor who can portray a believable sneeze, possesses excellent comedic timing, and is unafraid to be mean. Toulouse and Berlioz Toulouse and Berlioz are Duchess's sons. Since these Aristokittens are in the majority of the scenes but require little solo singing, cast two of your stronger actors who can sing well. Toulouse yearns to be seen as tougher than he is and has a small singing solo, so cast accordingly. Berlioz a slightly smaller part than Toulouse and requires no solo singing. If possible, the Aristokittens should be physically smaller than Duchess. Marie Marie is the spirited and sassy daugher of Duchess. She is the youngest child and a charmer just like her mother. Since she's in the majority of the show and has a small singing solo, cast a stronger actor rather than singer. When auditioning, mix and match Aristokitten hopefuls into different trios to see who works best together. Roqueforts Roqueforts is the naive yet ultimately brave house mouse who overcomes his fears and saves the Aristokittens from Edgar. This role requires a strong singer and character actor who can believably play innocent and frightened. If possible, cast someone physically smaller than the Alley Cats to in order emphasize his vulnerability when confronting them. Roquefort can be played by either a girl or a boy. Madame Madame is the eccentric and kind human owner of the Aristocats who loves her pets more than anything else in the world. This small character role requires a good actor who possesses the maturity to play a maternal role. She should also be capable of delivering a short singing solo. Since Madame only appears at the beginning and end of the show, consider double casting her as an Alley Cat for the country section of the show. General Napoleon and Private Lafayette General Napoleon and Private Lafayette are two country dogs in a comedic power struggle throughout the show. Napoleon is the power-hungry leader and Lafayette the not-so-subservient private. These roles do not require solo singing, so cast based on acting and the ability to move like a dog. Since this comic duo feeds off of each other, cast actors who can work well together. If you have a small cast, consider double casting them as Alley Cats in the opening number and for "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat." Napoleon and Lafayette can be played by either girls or boys. Vichy and Ssoise Vichy and Ssoise are two privates in the dog army who report to General Napoleon. These are smaller acting roles that require good movers and solid singing voices appropriate for small group singing. If you have a small cast, consider double casting them as Alley Cats in the opening number and for "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat." Amelia and Abigail Amelia and Abigail are the two bold geese sisters who rescue O'Malley from the river and lead the way out of the country back to Paris. These comedic characters sing a duet (but no solos), so cast solid singers and actors. It's also important for Amelia and Abby to be able to move convincingly as geese. If you have a small cast, consider double casting them as Alley Cats in the opening number and for "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat." Scat Cat Scat Cat is the jazzy leader of the Alley Cat narrators. He or she is ultra hip and enjoys introducing the Aristocats to jazz music. Scat Cat leads the song "Ev'rybody Want to Be a Cat" so cast a strong singer and smooth mover. When auditioning, look for a child that's willing to go over-the-top on both movement and acting improvisations. The more creative and able to perform outside the box, the better. Scat Cat can be played by either a girl or a boy. The Alley Cats The Alley Cats - Hep, Mad, Slick and Wacky although small acting parts, are the glue that holds The Aristocats KIDS together. These storytellers set up and comment on the action as well as execute the scene changes. These roles require actors with strong speaking voices who can focus onstage for long periods of time. They should also have good memories for the more complicated blocking of scene changes and transitions. Casting extra Alley Cats is a great way to use additional children you may have. Depending upon ability, they can take part in all or only some of the production numbers which call for the Alley Cats. Use some strong singers in these roles to help fill out the sound of the chorus.

Disney's Jungle Book KIDS - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman and Terry Gilkyson Book Adapted and Additional Lyrics by Marcy Heisler Music Adapted and Arranged by Bryan Louiselle Based on the Screenplay by Larry Clemmons Based on the Novel "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling Overview / Synopsis The jungle is jumpin' with jazz in this exciting Disney classic! Adapted for young performers from the beloved Disney film and the works of Rudyard Kipling, this musical includes all your favorite Disney tunes, including "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wan'na Be Like You." With colorful characters and that toe-tapping jungle rhythm, The Jungle Book KIDS is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for all ages. Audio Sampler - HL00160869 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00160859 $545.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Student Scripts Piano/Vocal Score Director's Script Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD Choreography DVD 30 Family Matters Booklets 30-Minute KIDS Request Individual Components 00160861 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00160860 - Director's Guide $100.00 00160862 - Actor's Script $10.00 00160863 - Actor's Script 10 Pak $75.00 00160864 - Rehearsal/Accompaniment CD Pak $75.00 00160867 - Choreography DVD $50.00 09970693 - Audio Sampler $10.00 00160865 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 00160866 - Student Rehearsal CD 20 Pak $100.00 00160868 - Media Disc (CD-ROM) $10.00 00160869 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Jungle Prologue [Bagheera, Baloo, Jungle, Wolves, Shere Khan] Kaa the Snake [Coconut Tree, Jungle] Trust in Me [Kaa] Night into Day [Jungle, All] Colonel Hathi's March [Hathi, Elephants] Baloo the Bear [Coconut Tree, Rock, Flower, Baloo, All] The Bare Necessities [All, Baloo, Mowgli, Jungle, Rocks, Plants] Monkey Business [Jungle] I Wan'na Be Like You [Louie, Monkeys, All, Baloo] I Wan'na Be Like You (Reprise) [Baloo] Shere Khan the Tiger [Shere Khan, Jungle] Mowgli Runs [Jungle, Mowgli] That's What Friends Are For [Jungle, All, Shere Khan] The Battle [Baloo, Trees, Prickly Pears, Rocks, All, Shere Khan, Jungle] The Bare Necessities (Finale) [All, Bees, Jungle] I Wanna Be Like You (Bows) [Groups 1-2, All] Narrators The Narrators are key to the success of Cinderella KIDS. Through these storytellers, the show's plot and the actions and reactions of the characters are expressed. Cast actors that are mature enough to stand for long periods of time. Clear, loud voices with good diction are a must. Mowgli Mowgli is a boy who gets along with everyone and who is very likeable. He has joyful and curious nature, and a twinkle in his eye. The child you cast should have a spark that can captivate the audience and should be a bit feisty. Bagheera Bagheera, the panther, is not gender-specific. You might consider casting a female to play this role to help balance the male-to-female ratio of the leading characters. Consider casting a child who might easily portray the physical attributes of a feline. Baloo Baloo, the bear, should be cast by someone who is exuberant with a great natural talent for singing and acting. Baloo provides much of the comedic relief in the story, so the actor must possess a natural sense of comedy. King Louie King Louie is King of the Monkeys. Cast an actor with strong comedic timing and good singing ability. Shere Khan Shere Khan, the tiger, is King of the Jungle. Consider casting someone who could be physically threatening, either in size, attitude, or both. Colonel Hathi Colonel Hathi, the elephant, is in charge of the elephant brigade, but is also a little forgetful. He is good at giving commands but doesn't really understand what's going on around him. Kaa Kaa, the snake, supplies threat and danger to Mowgli's journey out of the jungle. Cast someone with flair and good vocal and movement skills to be the lead Kaa (the head of the snake). Cast five others as the body. The Elephant Troupe The Elephant Troupe can have as many or as few children as you like, but cast enough to make it look like a brigade - at least eight. They don't need to be strong singers, but should be good movers/dancers so they can physicalize the behavior of elephants and march in and out of formation. Baby Elephant Baby Elephant can be cast with the smallest or youngest child. There is a solo line in the song as well as marching. Old Monkey Old Monkey should be cast with a strong actor over a singer. He or she should not be afraid to assume the physical traits of a monkey. Monkeys Monkeys should be strong dancers. "I Wan'na Be Like You" offers the chance to do great musical choreography with the monkey troupe. Shanti Shanti is the girl who takes Mowgli to the man-village at the end of the story. She should exude sweetness and kindness and have a natural ability for acting and singing. Jungle Chorus Jungle Chorus is your ensemble of singers, actors and dancers. These roles offer great opportunities to use your students' varied skills. Shanti's Family Shanti's Family is not seen, but represented by offstage voices. For fun, you might want to have a couple favorite teachers or the principal say these lines from offstage or from the back of the performance space.

Disney's Winnie the Pooh KIDS - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music and Lyrics by Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez Music Adapted & Arranged and Additional Music & Lyrics by Will Van Dyke Book and Additional Lyrics by Cheryl Davis Based on the stories of A.A. Milne and the 2011 Disney Animated feature film Overview / Synopsis Disney's Winnie the Pooh KIDS is a delightful show based on the beloved characters of A.A. Milne and the 2011 Disney animated feature film. Featuring favorite songs from the film, as well as new hits by the Academy Award-winning Robert and Kristen Lopez (Frozen), this honey-filled delight is as sweet as it is fun. Welcome to the Hundred Acre Wood, where Winnie the Pooh is once again in search of honey. Along the way, he meets his pals, Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit and Owl, but soon discovers that Christopher Robin has been captured by the mysterious Backson! As they prepare for a rescue operation, the animals learn about teamwork, friendship and, of course... sharing snacks. Filled with all of their favorite characters, Disney's Winnie the Pooh KIDS is a favorite for children to perform. There is ample opportunity for adding a large ensemble and filling your stage with as many creatures of the Hundred Acre Wood as possible. Audio Sampler - HL00609284 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00609223 $545.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Libretto/Vocal Books Piano/Vocal Score Director's Guide Choreography Videos Guide Vocal Tracks Performance Accompaniment Tracks Logo Pack (Coming Soon!) 30-Minute KIDS Request Individual Components 00609219 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00609218 - Director's Guide $100.00 00609220 - Libretto/Vocal Score $10.00 00609221 - Libretto/Vocal Score 10-Pak $75.00 00609284 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Winnie the Pooh Winnie the Pooh (Playoff) The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (Part 1) The Tummy Song The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (Part 2) The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (Part 1) Pooh and Piglet Honey! The Backson Song Honey Two! Piglet's Picnic Rabbit's Fall Tigger Bounces In Roo's Bounce Down Kanga's Tumble The Backson Song (Reprise) All in the Trap How to Capture a Backson Halfway Down Out of the Trap Honey Three! Hip Hip Pooh Ray / Winnie the Pooh (Finale) Exit Music Exit Music All in the Trap Cast of Characters Cast Size: Large (21 or more performers) Cast Type: Children Winnie The Pooh Winnie the Pooh is a bear with very little brain. His good heart and love of honey will capture your audience's hearts as he helps his friends find Christopher Robin. Cast a performer who is a strong singer, as Pooh has several solo lines. Gender: Male Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: B3 Piglet Piglet is a shy and quiet pig. They are often afraid of their own shadow but are also incredibly smart and noble and a great problem solver. Cast a performer who can portray the timid side of Piglet while projecting their voice and personality to the audience. Piglet's solo lines are perfect for a singer with a sweet voice. Gender: Any Vocal range top: B4 Vocal range bottom: C4 Tigger Tigger is a tiger and a bundle of energy. He is fiercely loyal, never stops bouncing and is always up for an adventure. Cast a student who can bring a big personality and a lot of excitement to the role. While a good singer will have a fun time with Tigger's song, it is most important that the personality of this character comes through. Gender: Male Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: D4 Eeyore Eeyore is a gloomy but loyal donkey. He can never seem to shake his bad luck and is constantly losing his tail. Despite his gloomy attitude, he always wants the best for his friends. While Eeyore has one solo singing line, this is primarily an acting role that requires a disciplined actor with good diction. Eeyore's lines are a treat for the audience, and can lead to a case of the giggles. Gender: Male Vocal range top: Bb4 Vocal range bottom: C4 Rabbit Rabbit is a worrisome rabbit who means the best for his friends but is not always sure how to help. The actor playing this role should be able to find variety in the ways to portray Rabbit's nervousness. Rabbit primarily sings as part of the ensemble with only one solo singing line, so cast a strong actor in this role. Gender: Male Vocal range top: Bb4 Vocal range bottom: A4 Owl Owl is a well-educated, slightly pompous owl. He is quick to explain or lecture, even when he isn't sure of the right answer. Still, the other animals look up to Owl and come to him when Christopher Robin has gone missing. Owl's solos in "The Backson Song" are some of the most challenging in the show but can be spoken if necessary. Cast an actor with a good sense of rhythm and pitch in this role. Gender: Male Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: B3 Kanga Kanga is a gentle kangaroo and mother to Roo. She is good-natured and always ready to take care of the other animals. This role has one solo singing line and is perfect for a performer with a lot of heart. Consider casting a performer who is taller than the actor playing Roo. Gender: Female Vocal range top: Bb4 Vocal range bottom: A4 Roo Roo is a kangaroo and the youngest animal in the wood. They are boisterous and playful and always look up to their friend Tigger. This is a great role for a student new to theater. You may want to audition Kanga and Roo at the same time, since they will always be together onstage. Gender: Any Vocal range top: A4 Vocal range bottom: E4 Seven Narrators The Seven Narrators - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet - introduce us to the Hundred Acre Wood and help tell our story. These non-singing roles are perfect for your strong actors who can speak clearly and make good eye contact with the audience. Gender: Any Animal Chorus The Animal Chorus is the ensemble of animals in the Hundred Acre Wood, including Squirrels, Frogs, Beetles, Gophers, Chipmunks, Birds, Raccoons and any other animals you want to add! For added fun and ownership, you can let the students of the Animal Chorus decide which animals they want to be. This ensemble sings in almost every song and is critical to the storytelling. Gender: Any Word Chorus The Word Chorus sings "Halfway Down" and helps all of the animals out of the Backson pit. This group is great for your strong choral singers. If you do not have enough performers to support this number, the Narrators and the Animal Chorus can double as the Word Chorus. Gender: Any Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a kind boy who plays with his animal friends in the Hundred Acre Wood and leads by example. While his disappearance creates the scare of the Backson, his return sets everything right again. This non-singing role is a wonderful opportunity for an actor who can deliver spoken lines loudly and clearly. Gender: Male Pooh's Tummy Pooh's Tummy is the endearing - but very hungry - part of Pooh! This role can be one or more performers who are onstage, offstage or any way that fits your production. The Tummy does not have any spoken lines and may be a great role for performers new to theater. While not necessary, you may want to find performers who are shorter than your actor playing Pooh. Gender: Any Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Bees The Bees are a flashy, energetic group who ultimately help Pooh get his honey. They pop in and out through the story and can be a ton of fun for the performers. The more bees you have, the more volume you'll get in the Honey songs, so cast as many as you can handle! Gender: Any Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: Eb4

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2022 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2022 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Complete List ART SONG WINNERS Children's Voices Ages 12 and under (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Heidi Hager (age 11) Herndon, VA Navy Elementary School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Heather Vineyard Second Place (tie) Maya Joshi (age 12) Cresskill, NJ Cresskill Middle School Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo and Liliana Sotirova Diya Koul (age 12) Lexington, MA Diamond Middle School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Beth Sterling Third Place (tie) Katherine Berdovskiy (age 12) Davis, CA Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Bernadette Mondok Keller Juliet Lee (age 11) Vienna, VA Wolftrap Elementary School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Sonia Yon Honorable Mentions Ava Acconzo (age 12) Bloomingdale, NJ Cristina Garcia (age 12) North Plainfield, NJ Ashley Hua (age 11) Marietta, GA Bella Leybovich (age 12) Mesa, AZ Lily Bell Morgan (age 10) Portsmouth, VA Ben Rost (age 10) Livingston, NJ Anna Smith (age 12) Austin, TX Leila Woodward (age 12) Newport Beach, CA Finalists Amy Ai (VA) Rachel Liz Anand (TX) Saryu Bapatla (FL) Alisha Batreja (NJ) Lilia Bernstein (CA) Theodore Burke (CA) Davna Ceron (NJ) Vinya Chhabra (NJ) Kayla Colchamiro (NJ) Charlotte Collins-Williams (CA) Mark Corrigan (CA) Aerina DeBoer (NJ) Chloe Ding (CA) Scarlett Diviney (NY) Nithya Gandi (IL) Esther Gao (GA) Rudrani Ghoshal (NC) Anna Grace Howell (PA) Ava Kimble (OH) Mady King (AZ) Olivia Ma (ON) Adhya Mahesh (CA) Beatrice Main (CA) Avyay Mangalampalli (MN) Josephine Martin (NY) Brendan McCanta (CA) Lily Mei (NJ) Carter Meza (CA) Maggie Miao (NY) Elsa Newbower (MA) Anh-Thu Nguyen (CA) Daniella Ngyuen (CA) Shreya Philips (TX) Nikila Rajan (TX) Claire Reimer (IA) Shea Sanders (IA) Akiv Sha (NJ) Siya Sharma (NJ) Elaine Shi (ON) Emma Tang (GA) Luke Tran (CA) Renee Tse (TX) Radha Maria Vargas Saravanamuttu (ON) Dyuti Venkatakrishna (NJ) Edward Wagner (NJ) Isabella Wagner (NJ) Janelle Wu (GA) Claire Xiao (NH) Yonglin Xie (ON) Cnai Zecharya (PA) Audrey Zelkovic (NY) Kayla Zhang (GA) NiuNiu Zhang (MD) Semi-Finalists Mira Bills (WI) Cadence Bleakley (CA) Allison Bovy (IA) Ella Cai (ON) Rick Chen (ON) Alan Csallner (TX) Hailey Dai (NJ) Donovan Dau (CA) Lilliana DeBoer (NJ) Catalina Do (CA) Siyu Fan (CA) Jianna Gutt (NY) Kellan Jewett (NC) Siddharth Kamat (NJ) Alyssa Kusherets (WA) Leonardo Lin (CA) Penelope Main (CA) Yifan Monroe (WA) Marsha Nath (AZ) Sofie Nesanelis (CT) Caylie Nguyen (CA) Saisha Pal (VA) Sophia Ponichter (NY) Shreya Rajeev (CA) Darby Schlosser (NY) Samaira Singh (NJ) Ainsley Sorenson (NY) Maya Surdutovich (CA) Amy Tierolf (CA) Richard James Tucker (NJ) Annika Vadhavkar (NJ) Owen Wang (ON) Ruolin Yuan (NJ) Ainsley Zauel (VA) Karson Zhang (ON) Aiden Zhao (GA) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Grace Chung (age 15) Hackensack, NJ Bergen County Academies Pianist: Goeun Lee Voice Teacher: Jinhwan Byun Second Place (Tie) Salina Mu (age 15) Austin, TX Westlake High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Abigail Tidlow-Tranel (age 15) Yellowstone National Park, WY Gardiner Public School Pianist: Douglas Burgess Voice Teacher: Jonathan Beyer Third Place (tie) Nana Castle (age 15) Jacksonville, NC Jacksonville High School Pianist: Jay R. Wright Voice Teacher: Alison Lawrence Aurna Mukherjee (age 15) Austin, TX Liberal Arts and Science Academy Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mentions Isaac Ahn (age 13) Rye Brook, NY Eva Crichton (age 15) New York, NY Abinaya Ganesh (age 15) Andover, MA Jocelyn Knorr (age 15) Havertown, PA David Trey Logeman (age 15) Kings Mountain, NC Lukas Palys (age 14) Dallas, Texas Aanya Santosh (age 13) Lincolnshire, IL Finalists Elizabeth Cho (MD) Alicia Chu (DE) Gabriela Cruz (NY) Maeve Cunningham (NJ) Daniel Deng (TX) Rebeca Dinca (WA) Emily Jane du Pont (DE) Ciela Elliott (NY) Saoirse Feiler (CA) Silvan Friedman (CT) Ashmita Ghosh (NC) Caitlin Hayles (FL) Evelyn Hsu (CA) Logan Hu (LA) Estella Sky Keyoung (CA) Hazel Kim (IL) Mariam Kubursi (CA) Vanessa Li (MD) Fiona Lin (GA) Bridget Lomax (NJ) Morgan Lomax (NK) Annabelle Miin (CA) Avery Nokes (VA) Violet Paris (NY) Gabe Ponichter (NY) Rachel Rogstad (CA) Katherine Ryan (NY) Viveka Saravanan (CA) Serena Sharma (CT) Kendall Sorenson (NY) Emily Stuart (WA) Celine Velazquez (CA) Hanyamin Wang (GA) Forrest Weaver (NH) Kiran Wisneski (PA) Lily Yezdanian (NJ) Margaret Zhang (NY) Semi-Finalists Misha Agrawal (NJ) Elisabeth Baer (GA) Isha Bhandari (NJ) Zoe Cook (WA) Leena Dey (MA) Charlotte Dugan (NH) Zara Garg (CT) Gretchen Gerke (IA) Anushri Ghoshal (NC) Ellivia Gold (NY) Baylee Horvath (AZ) Veronica James (NJ) Leela Jarschel (CA) Charlie Kratz (PA) Iva Liu (CA) Joon-Hyung Noh (CA) Olivia Petrizzo (NY) Sofia Mariposa Pugh (AL) Niko Rinaldi (CT) Luis Rodriguez (ON) Naomi Sedwick (VA) Chelsea Sun (TX) Noella Tae (CA) Shreya Tanna (NJ) Carmen Tarajano (NC) Temira Weisberg (NJ) Ava Whytsell (SC) Garrett Wirth (CA) Jeffrey Yang (CA) Michael Yu (TX) High School Voices Ages 16-18 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Elena Oliveira (age 18) Houston, TX Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Pianist: Yanira Soria Voice Teacher: Hector Vàsquez Second Place (tie) Aliyah Douglas (age 17) Oro Valley, AZ Ironwood Ridge High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Lia Zheng (age 16) San Diego, CA Canyon Crest Academy Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Zeping Cai Third Place (tie) Paige Klemenhagen (age 17) Lake Elmo, MN Stillwater Area High School Pianist: Ruth Palmer Voice Teacher: Teresa Tierney Ava Maha (age 17) Sewickley, PA Choate Rosemary Hall Pianist: Nathaniel Baker Voice Teacher: Sooyeon Kim and Lorraine Nubar Honorable Mentions Clara Abrahams (age 17) Lincoln, CA Kimberly Adam (age 17) Wayne, PA Eloise Fox (age 17) Landenberg, PA Elliot Henderson (age 16) New York, NY Henry Hsiao (age 18) Princeton, NJ Alexandra Johnson (age 16) Howell, MI Finalists Emelia Aceto (OH) Arya Balian (MD) Angelina Chen (CA) Erin Chung (CA) Ava Danzer (WI) Andie Earl (NJ) Olivia Gonzales (TX) Cecilia Harrison (NC) SangHoon Jung (NJ) Elora Kares (OH) Sofia Mains (PA) Andrea Nalywajko (NY) Kierra Pizarro (NY) Jocie Schnee (VA) Elena Skirgaudas (WA) Amanda Spotts (PA) Ashley Stewart (AZ) Semi-Finalists Katie Brigman (LA) Skyy Brooks (PA) Calia Burdette (KY) Janice Chong (CA) Fiona Coughlin (OH) Grace Finke (CA) Grace Hahn (CA) Kelly Irwin (NJ) Makenna Jacobs (AZ) Christine Kelly (IL) Rohan Kurup (WA) Mary Julia Lashley (OH) Emma Leibowitz (CA) Jack Leslie (CA) Carissa Ma (VA) Gianna Macedon (VA) Holly Marescot (NY) Isabella Michaels (PA) Ashwini Narayanan (IL) Abby Olson (CA) Bria Petrella (NJ) Tanisha Pulla (CA) Aashna Rana (CA) Abhigna Sala (GA) Csepke Sallai (VA) Emmeline Sevey (NH) Kirsten Tierney (VA) Luis Vega-Torres (OH) Viven Vigliante (VA) Nicole Witte (AZ) College/Univeristy Voices Ages 18-23 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Kaya Giroux (age 21) Carnegie Mellon University Pianist: Paul Michael Clark Voice Teacher: Maria Spacagna Second Place (tie) Natalie Corrigan (age 21) University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music Pianist: Beth Parker Voice Teacher: Amy Johnson Gabrielle Turgeon (age 21) University of Toronto Pianist: Kathryn Tremills Voice Teacher: Elizabeth McDonald Third Place Blake Stevenson (age 22) University of Southern California Pianist: John-Henri Voice Teacher: Thomas Michael Allen Honorable Mentions Lucy Altus (age 21) Carnegie Mellon University Abraham Cruz (age 21) The Boston Conservatory Marieke de Koker (age 23) Mannes College of Music Jacob Soulliere (age 22) Manhattan School of Music Finalists Adam Clayton (age 20) Northwestern University Jack Fanselau (age 21) Southwestern Adventist University Sarah Fleiss (age 22) The Curtis Institute of Music Laura Looper (age 19) Indiana University Lilly Nowak (age 19) Oklahoma City University Ian Pathak (age 20) University of Michigan Andrew Puschel (age 20) Bowling Green State University Aliyah Quill (age 20) University of Michigan Kayla Stein (age 20) Eastman School of Music Jillian Tam (age 20) McGill University Will Upham (age 23) Southern Methodist University Meghan Willey (age 20) James Madison University MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Children's Voices Ages 12 and under (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Maya Joshi (age 12) Cresskill, NJ Cresskill Middle School Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Agneya Roy (age 10) Concord, NC Cox Mill Elementary School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Brandi Icard Darby Schlosser (age 12) Armonk, NY H.C. Crittenden Middle School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo and Gulnara Mitzanova Third Place (tie) Liam Garrett (age 11) Peoria, AZ Candeo School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teachers: Satyam Patel and Ellen Johnson Ben Rost (age 9) Livingston, NJ Collins Elementary School Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon, Gulnara Mitzanova and Liliana Sotirova Honorable Mentions Alera Cetrulo (age 10) Santa Barbara, CA Amelia Holly (age 10) Chicago, IL Bella Leybovich (age 12) Mesa, AZ Bella Nazzaro (age 11) Lake Worth, FL Ciana Tzuo (age 12) New York, NY Kylie Kuioka (age 11) Brooklyn, NY Mollie Pedersen (age 12) Rochester, NH Nicole Hodges (age 11) Spring, TX Theodore Burke (age 12) Rancho Cucamonga, CA Yifan Monroe (age 10) Gig Harbor, WA Finalists Kellen Bryant (AZ) Mary Burklin (GA) Catalina Chang (NY) Vinya Chhabra (NJ) Hannah Cohen (NJ) Kayla Colchamiro (NJ) Katelyn Dempsey (IL) Brayden Flores (TX) Rudrani Ghoshal (NC) Heidi Hager (VA) Anna Grace Howell (PA) Mady King (AZ) Diya Koul (MA) Scarlett Lau (ON) Chloe Lee (ON) Juliet Lee (VA) McKenzie Lopezlira (AZ) Noelle Louis (NY) Josephine Martin (NY) Carter Meza (CA) Lily Bell Morgan (VA) Brooke Naznitsky (NJ) Jillian Platero (NJ) Poppy Pollard (TX) Brady Roland (PA) Gabriel Saphier (NJ) Akiv Shah (NJ) Anna Smith (TX) John Michael Starling (AL) Sienna Stoll (AZ) Angelina Tong (GA) Leila Woodward (CA) Semi-Finalists Nethania Ajan (TX) Rachel Liz Anand (TX) Anna Athungal (NJ) Ash Bajaj (TX) Saryu Bapatla (LA) Lilia Bernstein (CA) Mira Bills (WI) Mandolyn Binsted (TX) Ava Carranza (AZ) Davna Ceron (NJ) Annabelle Chung (TX) Lucy Cox (GA) Aja Crockett (MA) Jax DaSilva (MA) Lilliana DeBoer (NJ) Adeline DeFeo (MA) Chloe Ding (CA) Vince Ermita (NJ) Daniel Evans (NJ) Anne Gao (VA) Cristina Garcia (NJ) Abigail Gibbins (TX) William Goldsman (NY) Marley Griggs (TX) Lucian Gutfraynd (IL) Fiona Halter (NJ) Lucy Hendricks (WI) Morgan Hensley (TN) Rachel Hesom (MB) Hannah Hodges (TX) Ashley Hua (GA) Kate Hwang (CA) Kellan Jewett (NC) Felice Kakaletris (NJ) Siddharth Kamat (NJ) Ava Kimble (OH) Olympiada Kokkalis (PA) Alejandra Landaeta (FL) Jiaxuan Li (GA) Miranda Libanan (NJ) Antonio Lin (CA) Nola Linder (VT) Margot Mahan (NY) Nevin Mancell (AB) Avyay Mangalampalli (MN) Esha Marupudi (AZ) Donna Megules (NJ) Lily Mei (NJ) Maggie Miao (NY) Aashi Milla (IL) Norah Miller (PA) Julia Morton (TX) Ruchira Mukherjee (CA) Abiageal Murphy (MA) Saish Nagnur (NJ) Gowri Nair (NJ) Sofie Nesanelis (CT) Kara Ngyuen (CA) Abby Nordby (IL) Saisha Pal (VA) Yash Patel (AZ) Neel Pati (TX) Shreya Philips (TX) Daphne Pollard (TX) Fiona Morgan Quinn (PA) Ryan Rahman (CA) Charlie Russell (VA) Shea Sanders (IA) Anika Sandilya (NJ) Siya Sharma (NJ) Sophia Sheth (IL) Ainsley Sorenson (NY) Maddie Stufft (OH) Jacob Sturgis (PA) Emma Tang (GA) Monique Tian (DE) Lauren Trabanco (FL) Lydia Tracy (TX) Karstyn Traylor (TX) Richard James Tucker (NJ) Ella Twaddle (MN) Owen Wang (ON) Jazz Washinton (WA) Christiaan Wilkes (NY) Sabine Wolfli (AB) Janelle WU (GA Lily Youngstrom (CA) NiuNiu Zhang (MD) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Kaiya Bagley (age 15) Medford, OR St. Mary’s School Pianist: Tim Spencer Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Second Place (tie) Marina Chamedes (age 14) New York City, NY Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Pianist: Dan Pardo Voice Teacher: Grant Anderson Abinaya Ganesh (age 15) Andover, MA SMB Lessons Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Stephanie Morey-Barry Third Place (tie) Baylee Horvath (age 13) Gilbert, AZ Christ Greenfield Pianist: Hope Douglass Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Aurna Mukherjee (age 15) Austin, TX Liberal Arts and Science Academy Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Michele Haché Honorable Mentions Molly Dupre (age 15) Mattapoisett, MA Ciela Elliott (age 15) Chappaqua, NY Stefan Herrera (age 14) Houston, TX Mina Lim (age 15) Orinda, CA Bridget Lomax (age 15) Short Hills, NJ Morgan Lomax (age 15) Short Hills, NJ Grace Martin (age 15) Medford, NJ Lydia Mushkatina (age 15) Bellevue, WA Violet Paris (age 14) Brooklyn, NY Rachel Rogstad (age 15) Loma Linda, CA Naomi Thuren (age 14) Medford, OR Ananya Yadati (age 14) Beachwood, OH Finalists Lia Adzhamoglian (TX) Madeline Ayala (TX) Guy Challen (CA) Kate Clemetson (NV) Maeve Cunningham (NJ) Zoe Dempsey (IL) Sophie DeOliveira (MA) Jocelyn Knorr (PA) David Trey Logeman (NC) Salina Mu (TX) Joon-Hyung Noh (CA) Olivia Petrizzo (NY) Thomas Roper (MS) Katherine Ryan (NY) Viveka Saravanan (CA) Ella Scott (FL) Jessica Smith (PA) Lily Yezdanian (NJ) Semi-Finalists Abigail Adair (OH) Jessica Aezen (NJ) Ella Armandi (PA) Laura Armstrong (IL) Zoe Assis (FL) Madeline Austin (IA) Elizabeth Babiar (GA) Zoey Blackman (NJ) Siyona Bordia (NJ) Ella Bree (NJ) Vivian Brown (OH) Ayla Collins (VA) Zoe Cook (WA) Gabriela Cruz (NY) Elsa Dees (CT) Franziska Diefenbach (NY) Jingyi Du (NY) Charlotte Dugan (NH) Marshall Elliott (LA) Dyuti Ganesh (TX) Katelyn Gard (NY) Sienna Gasparrelli (CA) Ashmita Ghosh (NC) Anushri Ghoshal (NC) Annabel Gilly (NY) Mya Glasofer (NJ) Delilah Grad (TX) Nina Granik (MA) Maya Hanna (IA) Caitlin Hayles (FL) Katey James (OR) Sophie Jaquish (CA) Adhya Karukurichi (MN) Mariam Kubursi (CA) Vanessa Li (MD) Fiona Lin (GA) Grisham Locke (LA) Julia Murphy (VA) Fiona Neff (VA) Avery Nokes (VA) Alexandra Paris (NJ) Angelina Pendleton-Mendez (CA) Rebekah Rogstad (CA) William Daniel Russell (MA) Cetonaya Sammartino (BC) Cole Seevers (VA) Amelia Severns (PA) Sophia Severns (PA) Arushi Sharma (CA) Maya Shull (NY) Kendall Sorenson (NY) Roxie Sparling (UT) Sydney Steiner (NY) Emily Stuart (WA) Elaina Stuppler (OR) Shannon Tilley (PA) Josh Townshend (MD) Forrest Weaver (NH) Kiran Wisneski (PA) Katie Wylie (MA) Nora Yates (IA) Margaret Zhang (NY) High School Voices Ages 16-18 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Amelia Gibbons (age 17) De Pere, WI Southwest High School (Green Bay) Pianists: Mary Ehlinger Voice Teacher: Kaara McHugh Second Place (tie) Makenna Jacobs (age 16) Chandler, AZ Perry High School Pianists: Jenn Crandell Voice Teachers: Nichole Jensen Emma Schrier (age 17) Cinnaminson, NJ Cinnaminson High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Tamara Lynn Koveloski Third Place (tie) Emelia Aceto (age 16) Hinckley, OH Highland High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Denise Howell Ellie Brenner (age 18) Durand, WI SInterlochen Arts Academy (MI) Pianist: Douglas Peck Voice Teacher: Douglas Peck Honorable Mentions Lindsay Alexander (age 17) Austin, TX Christine Kelly (age 16) Geneva, IL Ava Lane (age 17) Livingston, NJ Finalists Mabry Adair (TX) Kimberly Adam (PA) Braelyn Andrade (MA) Clara Bennett (OR) Skyy Brooks (PA) Juliana Dees (CT) Katrina Franco (CA) Joseph Kayne (OH) Semi-Finalists Yaara Afif (VA) Shayne Barrett Goldstein (NJ) Anika Bhaskaran (MA) Natalie Bordwell (CA) Ty Brennan (WI) Caitlin Callahan (OR) Fiona Coughlin (OH) Shannon Daly (PA) Elena Day (MN) Natalie Evans (AB) Hadley Fitton (MA) Belle Fockler (OH) Jessica Holliday (NJ) Erika Kessler (NJ) Faith Kirkland (AZ) El Larabee (MA) Kaylyn Lau (TX) Nora Maier (IL) Lauren Marchand (NY) Joshua Mckiver (GA) Kyla O’Deay (LA) Abby Olson (CA) Amanda Phillips (MA) Marlee Rossero (OH) Amanda Spotts (PA) Charlotte Teeples (VA) Georgia Thomas (GA) Anna Gray Thompson (SC) Kirsten Tierney (VA) Hannah Tramonte (OH) Anna Beth Trueblood (MO) Olivia Ustinovich (MA) Isabella Vázquez-Janik (PA) Nick Vitale (NJ) Lila Wagner-Gleeson (OH) Sophia Welch (VA) Kenna Wells (NC) Amelia Williams (FL) Jackson Wood (AZ) Young Adult Voices Ages 18-23 (as of February 1, 2022) Enrollment in a school is not required in this category, nor is a voice teacher, but if the singer provided that information it appears below. First Place Abigail Storm (age 20) Austin, TX Ball State University Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Beth Truitt Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs (age 22) Lexington, SC Winthrop University Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Natalie Doppelt (age 22) Riverwoods, IL University of Pennsylvania Pianist: Lisa Harer de Calvo Voice Teacher: Lisa Harer de Calvo Third Place (tie) Aminata Jalloh (age 20) Powder Springs, GA Reinhardt University Pianist: Melanie Williams Voice Teacher: Reverie Berger Emily Kars (age 19) Kincheloe, MI Huntington University Pianist: Stephanie See Voice Teacher: Joni Killian Honorable Mentions Te’Jah Beaton (age 20) North Charleston, SC Beck Chandler (age 21) Columbia, SC Karen Covarrubias (age 20) Keene, TX Matthew Danforth (age 18) Demarest, NJ Taylor McCullough (age 18) Kingstree, SC Blake Stevenson (age 22) San Juan Capistrano, CA Finalists Preston Anderson (LA) Diego Bly (VA) Luke Capello (MA) Arianna Dreher (NY) Katelyn Farebrother (WI) Carissa Ferguson (FL) Margot Frank (IL) Melaina Furgeson (NY) Samantha Grasso (NJ) Alexandra Lagos (VA) Katie OShields (MD) Joshua Parga (SC) Chris Richie (OK) Celina Sasso (NV) Abigail Smith (SC) Caitlin Towell (IL) Back To Top

20th Century French Art Songs | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Online - French Art Songs 20th CENTURY FRENCH ART SONGS Mélodies française du XXe siècle Edited by Carol Kimball Published by Éditions Durand DF 16250/HL 50565798 High Voice edition DF 16251/HL 50565799 Medium/Low Voice edition Distributed in Europe and Asia by Hal Leonard MGB Distributed in North and South America by Hal Leonard Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hal Leonard Australia Download & Print Introductory Notes Complete Online Introductory Notes, Unabridged copyright © 2015 Editions Durand An abridged version of editor Carol Kimball’s “Introduction” appears in the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice publications. Her complete length “Introduction” appears below. See the publications for the poetry texts in French and translations in English. GEORGES AURIC CLAUDE DEBUSSY HENRI DUTILLEUX GABRIEL FAURÉ REYNALDO HAHN ARTHUR HONEGGER JACQUES LEGUERNEY OLIVIER MESSIAEN DARIUS MILHAUD FRANCIS POULENC MAURICE RAVEL ALBERT ROUSSEL ERIK SATIE DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC GEORGES AURIC (1899-1983) George Auric was something of a child prodigy, performing a piano recital at the Musicale Indépendante at the age of fourteen. The following year, the Société Nationale de Musique performed several songs he had composed. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and later with Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. Before he was twenty, Auric had orchestrated and written incidental music for several stage productions and ballets. He composed a significant amount of avant-garde music during the years between 1910-20. Around 1914, he widened his acquaintances to include members of Les Six, a group of composers informally associated with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and became a part of their group. Auric and Francis Poulenc became fast friends and remained so for life. Music criticism was an important part of Auric’s career; his writing focused on promoting the ideals of Les Six and Cocteau. He was also especially known for his film scores, which are consistently imaginative. He forged a major career in the English movies of the 1940s and ’50s. Among his most well-known scores is the music for the film Moulin Rouge. Other popular film titles with scores by Auric include The Lavender Hill Mob, Roman Holiday, Beauty and the Beast, and Bonjour Tristesse. In 1962 he became the director of the Opéra National de Paris and later, chairman of SACEM, the French Performing Rights Society. Auric continued to write classical chamber music until his death. Le Jeune sanguine (1940) from Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin poem by Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969) This mélodie is the second song in Auric’s cycle titled Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Vilmorin’s poetry reverberates with sensitivity to affairs of the heart. She was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets; he set her poetry when writing specifically for the female voice, such as in Fiançailles pour rire. A sort of veiled humor is at the heart of this text that describes a young hussy whose lover departs early with the dawn’s first light, leaving her weeping disconsolately. Auric provides a prelude and postlude for formal balance as the miserable young woman mourns her loss. He also inserts several unexpected and amusing measures of a tango as the young man arches his back and leaves the sound of her sobbing. For his three Vilmorin songs, Auric used the style of a chansonette, or more popular song. Printemps (1935) Poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Auric composed this lilting waltz song for a play by Edouard Bourdet titled La Reine Margot (1935). The celebrated musical theatre actress-singer Yvonne Printemps created the role of Queen Margot of Navarre at Théâtre de la Michodière. Auric and Francis Poulenc collaborated on the incidental music for this play; Poulenc took the second act, Auric the first. Poulenc composed the Suite française and the song “A sa guitare”; Auric’s contribution was “Printemps.” Yvonne Printemps sang both songs in the play. Both composers used texts by Pierre de Ronsard, and the musical style of each is reminiscent of the Renaissance. Ronsard’s original poem had twenty-three stanzas. Auric set only the first three. BACK TO TOP CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Claude Debussy wrote expertly for the voice and was acutely responsive to transforming poetic nuance into musical expression. Possibly no other French composer was as attuned to blending poetry and music. His literary taste was highly refined and he maintained a visible and active role in the literary and artistic circles of his time. He chose to set poetry of his contemporaries, notably Verlaine and Mallarmé. Verlaine’s verse with its inherent musical qualities, provided Debussy with poetry for numerous works. For Debussy, poetry as poetry was the paramount determinant of the musical texture. His ability to detect the essence of a poem and perfectly transform it into musical expression makes his mélodies unique in the history of French song. Le promenoir des deux amants (1904, 1910) poems by Tristan l’Hermite (c. 1601-1656) “Auprès de cette grotte sombre,” the first song, made its first appearance with the title “La Grotte,” song two of Trois chansons de France of 1904. In 1910, it was retitled and combined with two other poems by Tristan l’Hermite (“Crois mon conseil, chère Climène” and “Je tremble en voyant ton visage”) to form the miniature cycle Le Promenoir de deux amants, which has been called the finest of all Debussy’s works for voice and piano. It is also the least-often performed. Debussy chose the texts from Les Amours de Tristan, a collection by the seventeenth-century poet Tristan l’Hermite. The poems are set close to a grotto, secluded and silent. The transparent, barely stirring waters mingle with the silence of the cloistered spot, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Debussy establishes an intimate, tender mood immediately and maintains this fragile mix of sound and color throughout the three mélodies. The interplay of resonance and texture in voice and piano results in an exquisite blend of light and shade, perfectly complementing l’Hermite’s poetic images. Subtly inflected vocal phrases are key to recreating the infinite calm and Pelléas-like atmosphere of the poetry, a perfect fusion of stillness and sensuality. Fêtes galantes II (1904) poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Debussy’s fascination with the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine resulted in his setting to music no fewer than seventeen of Verlaine’s texts. He composed two sets of three songs each, both titled Fêtes galantes, the first in 1892, and the second in 1904. Fêtes galantes II, Debussy’s last setting of Verlaine, closely following the composition of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, is representative of the composer’s mature vocal works. It is marked by sparser textures, freer tonalities and a more concentrated compositional style than the first set; but like the first set, Fêtes galantes II presents three unrelated songs. None of the Watteau-like scenes are found here; rather, these three poems are filled with mystery, and are without sentimentality. The theme of time appears in each of the poems: the first, sentimental youthful remembrances; the second, inexorable fleeting time; and finally in the last song, time never to be reclaimed. “Les Ingénus” recalls the first awakenings of sexual attraction, and deals with the breathless awe with which a group of unsophisticated young men of the mid-nineteenth century view their similarly naïve female companions. The scene unfolds in a highly chromatic texture, skillfully balanced to preserve the delicate, poignant images in Verlaine’s verse. Debussy’s free-floating harmonies are carefully contrived to complement the uncertain emotions and repressed sensations of the youths in the poem. “Le Faune” begins with a prelude; time unravels in an inflexible dance featuring a rhythmic, hypnotic figure in the piano, imaging the traditional reed pipe and “tambourin,” a small drum played with a stick. The old terra-cotta statue in Verlaine’s poem is probably the woodland god Pan, playing a monotonous rhythm that is both sensual and slightly menacing, matching the mood of the two mélancolique pélerins. Mesmerized by the repetitive rhythms of drum and reed flute, the dejected travelers are caught in the whirlpool of passing time, which spins past as they watch helplessly. “Colloque sentimental.” Colloquial (colloque) refers to ordinary speech or conversation. This disturbing poem is the touchstone of one of Debussy’s great mélodies. It is the last poem in Verlaine’s collection titled Fêtes galantes, and provides a chilling climax. It blends themes of despair, death and disillusion. In this extraordinary song, the ghosts of two lovers meet in a wintry park. As they speak of their former love, their words match the setting: glacial and detached from feeling. Throughout the song their wintry words are enhanced by Debussy’s simple and subtle vocal treatment: one voice urgent and persistent, the other stonily indifferent. Debussy’s manipulation of musical texture between voice and piano is masterful. The sparse vocal lines are almost speech-like, and the piano figures mirror the frozen landscape in which this conversation–equally cold–takes place. The song’s kinship to Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande is unmistakable. The listener becomes one with the poem’s narrator, straining to see and hear the couple’s conversation in the icy cold of the deserted, frozen park. Debussy reaches back to “En sourdine” (the first mélodie of Fêtes galantes I), takes the wistful song of the nightingale, and inserts it into this song at various points. The nightingale’s melody (“voix de nôtre dessespoir, le rossignol chantera”) provides a touching and melancholy association, linking the two sets of Fêtes galantes together symbolically and musically, foreshadowing the disenchantment of love hinted at in “En sourdine” with the lovers’ conversation in “Colloque sentimental,” and unifying the two sets by a subtle musical component. This panel of three mélodies was Debussy’s last setting of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons (1915) poem by the composer This is Debussy’s last song, written to his own text, a Christmas carol for children made homeless by World War I. Its intensity comes from its simple sincerity. Debussy composed it on the eve of his first operation for the cancer that would end his life two years later. It was his personal protest against the invasion of northern France by the German armies. When asked for permission to orchestrate the song, Debussy refused, saying, “I want this piece to be sung with the most discreet accompaniment. Not a word of the text must be lost, inspired as it is by the rapacity of our enemies. It is the only way I have to fight the war.” Originally composed in 1915 for piano and voice, Debussy also created a version for children’s chorus, and in 1916, a version for piano and two sopranos. BACK TO TOP HENRI DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) Henri Dutilleux studied at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Emmanuel. He received the Prix de Rome in 1938 at age twenty-two, and went on to work at the Paris Opéra and the French Radio. France’s musical institutions defined his career: in 1961, he joined the faculty at the école Normale de Musique, teaching composition. In 1970, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He destroyed many of his early works, considering them derivative of Ravel, the preeminent composer in France during his youth. His music that had been published avoided demolition. After World War II, Dutilleux concentrated almost exclusively on instrumental and orchestral music, much of which has been widely programmed and recorded. His songs are not well known. In the chronological catalogue of his compositions, beginning in 1929, the Quatre mélodies for mezzo soprano or baritone is only the eleventh entry. It also exists in an orchestral version. The collection is dedicated to the French baritone Charles Panzéra and his wife, pianist Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot, prominent interpreters of French song in the interwar years. Gabriel Fauré dedicated his last cycle, L’horizon chimérique, to Panzéra. Quatre mélodies (1942) uses poems by four different poets and presents a delightful collection of moods, although it must be admitted that the level of the poetry is not uniformly high: “Féérie au clair de lune” (poem by Raymond Genty), a graceful scherzo of dancing fairies that evokes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Pour une amie perdue” (Edmond Borsent); “Regards sur l’infini” (Anna de Noailles); and “Fantasio” (André Bellessort). The last mélodie is the most successful of the set and is one of two songs from the set (the other being “Pour une amie perdue”) that Dutilleux acknowledged. He wanted to exclude the first and third songs because their poetry was relatively mediocre. Fantasio (1942) from Quatre Mélodies poem by André Bellessort (1866-1942) “Fantasio” (the original title of Bellessort’s poem is “Les funérailles de Fantasio”) is a colorful poem that chronicles the funeral of the titled character, who has expired before the text begins. The poem, set in Venice during Carnival, is full of glittering and compelling imagery that changes quickly, following the pace of the Carnival. Musical textures are skillfully handled and exhibit some of Dutilleux’s developing style. “Pauvre Fantasio,” is heard several times during the text, acting as both a funereal chant that unifies the proceedings and perhaps as well, keeping the mourners’ footsteps marching together. BACK TO TOP GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Gabriel Fauré was one of the great composers of French song who, with Duparc and Debussy, perfected the mélodie as a true art song form. He composed about a hundred songs, all original in conception, constantly developing in style, and pointing the way to future works. His songs express a broad range of emotion and a great variety of musical textures, extending the musical parameters of the genre and inspiring new techniques of song compositions. His songs are often divided into three compositional periods for purposes of study and definition. Fauré has been characterized as a skillful watchmaker; with great precision his songs, which overflow with subtle nuances and delicate detail. His approach is in keeping with the French musical aesthetic: elegant and rational, dealing with sentiment rather than literal sensation. He was able to capture the entire poetic mood of each poem he set and to create an aura around it with his musical setting. Dans la fôret de septembre, Op. 85, No. 1 (1902) poem by Catulle Mendès (1841-1909) This touching poem symbolizes the onset of old age. Mendès was among the founders of a literary magazine, La Revue fantaisiste, which published many poems of the Parnassian poets. Fauré’s musical style perfectly suited this style of poetry: elegance of style, richness of rhyme, regularity and symmetry of rhythm. The Parnassians avoided the excessively romantic and aimed for “art-for-art’s sake.” Fauré was nearly sixty years old when he composed this mélodie, and his reaction to this poem is beautifully poignant. The words describe the poet’s reflective walk through a quiet, somber forest, capturing the chill of mortality and the overall mood of the turning point of life. The ancient forest, sensing a kindred spirit, provides the walker with a sign of friendship and understanding. Fauré set this contemplative poem in a rich harmonic musical texture with a vocal line that borders on quasi-recitative-like shapes. The solemn thoughts of old age call forth a melancholy, but it is a subtle melancholy. It is almost hymn-like in the fusion of words, emotions, and musical texture. This mélodie may be considered as marking the threshold to the final period of Fauré’s compositions. Accompagnement, Op. 85, No. 3 (1902) poem by Albert Victor Samain (1858-1900) This mélodie is a beautiful barcarolle–a nighttime scene, silvery and hazy, alluring but unreal. The image of the poet rowing on the lake is reflected in the musical texture. Fauré had a lifelong fascination with water imagery in music; this poem offers a little reel of unfolding pictures of a moonlight journey a dark lake. The words “dans le rêve” tell us that this is all a dream. This is a rarely sung Fauré mélodie that yields great rewards for the performer. Chanson, Op. 94 (1906) poem by Henri di Régnier (1864-1936) This poem has a gentle charm and a calm simplicity. It is the last of Fauré’s madrigals that include delicate love songs such as “Lydia,” and “Clair de lune.” It has a wonderful fluidity that is a perfect foil for the poetic images The text is a simple set of variations on one theme: nothing on earth has any meaning unless the beloved somehow touches it. Fauré’s reaction to the words called forth a musical setting of delicate transparency and limited range. It is not well known; like “Le Don silencieux,” “Chanson” was published as a single song and therefore not widely disseminated. It is an example of exquisitely planned musical economy, and definitely belongs in Fauré’s third period of musical compositions. Le Don silencieux, Op. 92 (1906) poem by Marie Closset (1875-1952), under the pseudonym Jean Dominique Here is another little known Fauré song, a rarity because it was published separately and was never included in any of the Fauré recueils. The poem has a gentle melancholy–the plea of a timid lover, a mixture of hope and imagined disappointment. The words are tender and flowing, but the overall mood is one of unrelieved sadness. This song marks the beginning of Fauré’s third compositional period, which includes the cycles La Chanson d’Eve, Le Jardin clos, Mirages, and L’Horizon chimérique. Writing of this mélodie in a letter to his wife, Fauré said, It does not in the least resemble any of my previous works, nor anything that I am aware of; I am very pleased about this...It translates the words gradually as they unfold themselves; it begins, opens out, and finishes, nothing more, nevertheless it is unified. 1 NOTES: Quoted in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2009), 291. Quotation from Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 304. This is a translation of Fauré’s letter to his wife of 17 August 1906. BACK TO TOP REYNALDO HAHN (1875-1947) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan by birth, came to Paris with his family at age four and made a brilliant career. In addition to his career as a composer and singer, he was director of the Paris Opéra, music critic for the newspaper Figaro, and conductor of the Salzburg Festival. He was enough of a scholar to edit some of the works of Rameau. He maintained close friendships throughout his life with actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Marcel Proust. During the Belle époque, French mélodie was at the height of its development. Hahn was a habitué of the most fashionable salons, where he was in demand as a performer. On these occasions, he usually sang and played his own accompaniment, often with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The art of singing was one of his major passions, and he wrote three books on singing (Du chant, Thèmes varies, and L’oreille au guet), as well as a memoir of Sarah Bernhardt. Hahn’s songs are models of French restraint–devoid of overt display, with beautiful melodies in a modest vocal range. They reflect the style of his teacher, Jules Massenet. Hahn composed approximately ninety-five works for solo voice: eighty-four mélodies, five English songs to texts of Robert Louis Stevenson, and six Italian songs in the Venetian dialect. After 1912, Hahn composed in larger forms: opera, operetta, and film music. Perhaps his most famous work is his operetta Ciboulette (1923), which is still performed. À Chloris (1916) poem by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) “À Chloris” is No. 14 in Deuxième volume de vingt mélodies, the last major publication of Hahn’s songs during his lifetime. In many of his later songs, he turned to a deliberately archaic style. “À Chloris” features an elegant vocal line above a piano texture that features Baroque musical characteristics; it is its own piece, with ornamented melody and chaconne-like bass. Vocal line and piano piece are woven into a musical tapestry that is both declarative and intimate. Poet Théophile de Viau was considered one of the most influential libertin poets during Louis XIII’s reign. The libertins’ verses had a unique charm that is instantly appealing, but somewhat artificial. Despite this, de Viau’s love poetry is not bland, but full of suggestive passion and elegant wit. BACK TO TOP ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892-1955) Arthur Honegger composed over forty mélodies for voice and piano. Taken as a whole, they are diverse and imaginative. For his texts, he favored contemporary poets such as Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, and Paul Fort. He also chose to set unrelated poems by a single poet, such as his Poesies (Cocteau) and Alcools (Apollinaire). Poetry with strong imagery appealed to the dramatist in his personality. For Honegger, as for most successful mélodie composers, the word provides the starting place. He is quoted as saying: For me, the music a song is always dependent upon the poetic model. It must join so closely with the poetry, that they become inseparable and one can picture the poem in wholly musical terms. This is not to say that the music becomes subservient. It must be so crafted that it can stand on its own merits, playable without the text, logical and complete. 1 Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, Arthur Honegger initially studied for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, but enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d’Indy. Some of his more familiar large vocal works include the dramatic psalm Le roi David (King David), composed in 1921 and still in the choral repertoire; and his dramatic oratorio of 1935, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the stake), with text by Paul Claudel, considered to be one of his finest works. Between the world wars, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among works in other genres. His total compositional catalog is an impressive list of music: orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballets, operas, operettas, and oratorios. Widely known as a train enthusiast, he was passionately interested in locomotives, to which he attributed almost human characteristics. His “mouvement symphonique,” Pacific 231, gained him early acclaim in 1923. Honegger’s musical style is a fascinating mixture of impressionistic effects peppered with penetrating dissonances. He had a fondness for mixing tonalities and using modality. His compositions for the voice display an eclectic focus of coloristic harmonies and architectural clarity. He was a member of Les Six, but unlike most of that group, did not share their overwhelming reaction against German romanticism. Honegger’s musical style is fuller and more serious than his colleagues. He and Darius Milhaud were close friends. Honegger’s generous body of song has proved of enduring interest to contemporary performers. His was a distinctive voice in the vocal music of the twentieth-century French mélodie. Trois Psaumes (1940-41) from the Huguenot Psalter Psaumes XXXIV and CXL translated by Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) Psaume CXXXVIII translated by Clément Marot (1496-1544) The spirit of Bach shines in the first psaume, “Psalm 34,” in which a chant-like vocal line alternates with a gently moving episodic keyboard part. This call and response continues until the last three vocal phrases, when the vocal line merges with the instrumental texture in a psalm of praise. The second song is “Psalm 140,” “ô Dieu donne-moi la déliverance de cet homme pernicieux” (O God, deliver me from this evil man). Honegger’s biographer, Harry Halbreich, suggests that the “evil man” who was oppressing Europe in those last days of 1940 might be the reason for Honegger’s text choice. This piece was composed before the first and third songs. Its emotional mood peaks with the chorale tune “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2 The last song in the set, “Psalm 138,” has the Latin title “Confiteor tibi, Domine” (I thank thee, O Lord) and is a paraphrase by Clément Marot, one of the greatest of the French Renaissance poets. It contains a familiar chorale tune, which is used in canon between voice and piano. NOTES: Arthur Canter and Rachel Joselson, Liner notes, The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney. Rachel Joselson, Réne Lecuona , piano. Albany Records, TROY691, 2004. Harry Halbreich, trans. Roger Nichols, Arthur Honegger (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 165. BACK TO TOP JACQUES LEGUERNEY (1906-1997) Most of Jacques Leguerney’s sixty-eight mélodies were composed and published from 1940 to 1964. Many were commissioned and premiered by French baritone Gérard Souzay, his sister, soprano Geneviève Touraine, and pianist Jacqueline Bonneau. Early songs are comparable in mood and style with Ravel or Roussel (who encouraged Leguerney’s composition); later songs have been compared to those of his contemporary, Poulenc. Leguerney writes virtuoso piano parts–often dramatic, and with such an individual sense of harmonic style and color that Pierre Bernac reportedly described them as “mélodies de pianist.” 1 When asked about Leguerney’s songs, Gérard Souzay wrote, “How does one describe this music which is, at the same time, classic and modern? It is pure, but colorfully nuanced; it speaks to the heart as well as the mind–at times calm at times witty–wise, yet sensual...” 2 Many of Leguerney’s songs deal with themes of love and nature, expressing a huge range of emotions from deeply felt meditation to wild, ribald humor. Leguerney stopped composing in 1964, and his songs became neglected. The quality of Leguerney’s text setting, lyrical beauty, and harmonic innovations all call for his songs to be better known and more widely performed. Jacques Leguerney was drawn to the work of Renaissance poets, notably Ronsard. There are eight collections titled Poèmes de la Pléaide, representing settings of sixteenth and seventeenth-century French poetry and totaling thirty-two songs. Additionally, there are cycles and other collections [for a complete listing of Leguerney’s songs, see Dibbern, Kimball, and Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney]. 3 They may be thought of as the last in the great mainstream of twentieth-century French song. La Caverne d’écho (1954) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 7 poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594-1661) Dedication: Josiane and Jean Cier. First performance: Bernard Kruysen, baritone; Jean-Charles Richard, pianist. 29 May 1965, Radio France Culture. Marc-Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant, wrote poetry of great descriptive power, and his use of language set him apart from the other seventeenth-century poets. He was also an adept musician and skillful lute player, writing verses that often describe musical sounds linked to visual images. The poem takes place in a dark cave, home of the nymph, Echo; it is a charmed place, absolutely still and peaceful. The poet’s lute resounds inside the cavern as he tries to soothe the inconsolable Echo, who mourns for her lover Narcissus. Leguerney creates the grotto’s mysterious resonance with bitonality. Piano figures illustrate the strumming of the lute. The text contains many sounds with the consonant “r.” The rolling quality of this speech sonority re-creates the cavern’s resonance. The closing measures of the mélodie produce a striking effect as the singer’s voice echoes eerily in the cavern, blending with the piano’s resonance and creating a remarkably realistic echo. À son page (1944) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 2 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Gérard Souzay. First performance: Gérard Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Robin (Bonneau). 3 May 1945, Salle Gaveau, Paris. This is a lusty scene with four characters: a nobleman tipsy from drink, his page, and two women, Jeanne and Barbe. Carpe diem is the theme here. The singer philosophizes on this idea while enjoying his wine and the tender companionship of the two beautiful women. Leguerney evokes the crackling staccato of a stylized harpsichord with rhythmic accents in the piano. The text is brilliantly set with jagged vocal lines and driving rhythms that illustrate the singer’s intoxication. It ends with Leguerney’s repetition of the last poetic line and the addition of nonsense syllables which fit beautifully into the imagery and mood of Ronsard’s colorful characters. Je me lamente (1943) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 1 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Geneviève Touraine. First performance: Paul Derenne, tenor; Jeanne Blancard, pianist. 29 March 1944, Salle de l’Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris. This is one of Leguerney’s most beautiful songs, setting Pierre de Ronsard’s text from his collection of love poems for Marie Dupin, a country girl from a small village in southern France. She was half his age and probably represented the youth he constantly pursued. It has been suggested that the Marie in question was probably Marie de Clèves, passionately adored by Henri III. 4 Leguerney called this mélodie a constant crescendo from beginning to end. 5 Ronsard’s anguish is captured with a texture of stark chords, crowned by a regal and sustained vocal line. As the song progresses, the poet’s anguish is embodied in a more expansive texture, bidding Marie a happy resting place near God or in the Elysian fields. NOTES: Liner notes by Mary Dibbern. Mélodies sur poèmes de la Renaissance (Jacques Leguerney).Harmonia Mundi France. LP recording HMC 1171. Letter to the author. Quoted in Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun. Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 3. Ibid., 289-295. Ibid., 69. See note 20. Ibid., 70. BACK TO TOP OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He grew up around words and absorbed their shapes, colors and sounds naturally. His father, Pierre Messiaen, was a well-known translator of Shakespeare, and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a poet. As a youngster, before beginning to compose music, he had an especially perceptive ear attuned to the unique prosody of the French language. Early in his compositional career, he published a book titled Technique de mon langage musical (1944). About his musical setting of words, Jane Manning observes: ...the syllables themselves create a glittering mosaic of sonorities and subtle resonances, in addition to their actual meaning (many of the poems do not translate at all satisfactorily). The composer’s awareness of the minutiae of verbal enunciations and articulations is miraculous. Each vocal sound can be precisely placed as intended, all dynamics are scrupulously plotted, and the performer’s involvement and intimate connection to the music is enhanced by the sensual nature of words projection... 1 He often used stained glass to explain his music. When viewed from a distance, the myriad details blend into a single entity, whose purpose is to dazzle the listener. Understanding is not necessary, feeling is the prime requisite. The music of Olivier Messiaen is a skillfully designed and unique language, with meaning and form kept separate. Its meaning is unchangeable, harkening back to Gregorian chant, culminating in instruments that are able to prolong sound (organ, strings, or the ondes Martenot). Messiaen’s musical language is defined by its rhythms and tone colors. His uncanny instinct for associating sound with color produced works unique in their concept of the combination of sounds. He said that when he heard or read music, his mind’s eye saw colors that move with the music; he sensed these colors, and at times he precisely indicated their arrangements in his scores. His fascination with birdsong was lifelong; he referred to himself as an ornithologist and tracked birds and their songs all over the world. He considered their resonances as songs and not merely sounds. He notated these on manuscript paper and they found their way into his music. Trois mélodies (1930) poems by Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927) This little cycle of songs is Messiaen’s first recognized work for voice and piano. The songs are modest in length and not typical of Messiaen’s later style, but show influences of late Fauré and Duparc in the overall musical texture. There is only one song in his vocal compositions in which Messiaen set the poetry of another poet. It is found in this cycle, which uses the text of his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage, who died three years before the composition of this work. The three movements form a warm and delicate little triptych. Two of Messiaen’s own poems stand on either side of the poem by Cécile Sauvage, throwing that charming little poem into high relief. “Pourquoi?” introduces a litany of the pleasures of nature: birdsong, the unfolding seasons, and water images. The poet becomes emotional, asking why all these bring him no joy. “La Sourire,” the shortest song of the set, is a beautiful microcosm of intimate and spiritual understanding between two people. It is a delicate example of musical economy and word setting in a quasi-recitative style. The last song, “La fiancée perdue,” offers fleeting hints of Messiaen’s cycle to come, Poèmes pour Mi–most specifically, the final song. Here, the poet prays for divine blessing on the soul of the “fiancée” in the title. The fervent incantation illuminates and affirms man’s connection to a higher authority. Examining the poetic content of the three texts, we are struck by the images that underlie the words: the emotional outburst “pourquoi,” (why?), perhaps questioning the death of Cécile, followed by Cécile’s tender affirmation of love, and finally, the prayer asking for Divine grace and the blessing of the soul of the departed. NOTES: Jane Manning, “The Songs and Song Cycles,” in The Messiaen Companion, ed. Peter Hill (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995), 107. BACK TO TOP DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974) Darius Milhaud was probably the most prolific composer of the group known as Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, and Milhaud). The group was unified by friendship rather than a single musical style. Championed by influential writer Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie, Les Six often presented their works at the same concerts and met with great regularity–often at Milhaud’s house–to make music and exchange ideas. Louis Durey observed that it was the wide diversity in their personalities and musical styles that gave the group its rich depth and permitted its development. Embodied in the credo of their musical thought was relative sparseness of texture and clarity. Turn-of-the-century France offered popular entertainments that drew the French to an environment of merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, outdoor concerts, circuses, and a jumble of excitement. Milhaud was fascinated by Parisian street life, and could hear the sounds of the Montmartre fair from his apartment. Often on their group outings, Les Six went together to the Cirque de Médrano to see the Fratellinis, a famous family of clowns of that day. Milhaud observed that their acts were worthy of the Commedia dell’arte. 1 Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Op. 59 (1920) poems by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Trois poèmes de Jean Cocteau is like lyric fragments. The small-range vocal lines have a sparse lyricism–one of emotional mood rather than overt melody. The little mélodies are skillful studies in brevity. These match Cocteau’s rather enigmatic poems that exemplify the style termed dépouillé (stripped to the essentials), his aesthetic creed. Milhaud dedicated the songs to Satie. The three miniatures are a colorful kaleidoscope of the circus and the outdoor fairs that entranced the French during this period. “Fumée” describes the equestrienne of the Cirque Médrano atop a horse, jumping through hoops, captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s familiar painting titled “L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando (1888); “Fête de Bordeaux” is a description of the merry-go-round at the Bordeaux fair; and “Fête de Montmartre” evokes the nighttime boats and sailors, possibly having to do with a game involving camouflaged ships found at the Montmartre fair. Milhaud infuses stylistic and melodic elements of folk songs and children’s tunes into the tiny pieces, tying the innate excitement of these popular destinations to simple, childlike reactions. NOTES: Laurence Davies, The Gallic Muse (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1967), 164. BACK TO TOP FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Francis Poulenc’s 150 mélodies form the largest body of songs to be added to French vocal literature in the twentieth century. Poulenc’s flair for the dramatic, combined with his superb skill in mixing poetry and music, produced songs that singers find immensely gratifying, not only for their musical value, but for their heightened sense of drama. Poulenc’s mélodies reflect concern and feeling for declamation, inflection, breathing, and above all, show extraordinary warmth of feeling for the human voice. He was fond of saying, “J’aime la voix humaine!” The sophistication of Poulenc’s songs spring from their poetic inspirations. Poulenc was quite knowledgeable about poetry, and chose his texts carefully. His gift of divining the inner life of the texts he set produced songs that do more than merely illustrate the poems. His gift for melody is at the very heart of all his songs and seems to assert itself naturally in shaping the color, weight, and meaning of the texts he set. Ce doux petit visage (1938) poem by Paul éluard (1895-1952) Paul Eluard was one of Poulenc’s three main poets. This is a beautiful introduction to Eluard’s poetry, lyrical and passionately intense. The simplicity of Poulenc’s setting allows the poem to shine. It is one of Poulenc’s tiny gems, and he admitted his partiality to the short song. Eluard’s skill at evoking nostalgia and melancholy are seen here, linked to lost youth. The mélodie is dedicated to the memory of Raymonde Linossier, Poulenc’s most intimate childhood friend, who influenced his literary taste and musical tendencies. He said: “I have a great liking for this short song. Raymonde Linossier was my best advisor for the music of my youth. How many times, during the years since her death, I would have liked to have had her opinion on this or the other of my works.” 1 La Grenouillère (1938) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) “La Grenouillère” is an outstanding example of Poulenc’s romantic lyricism. This is a text by Guillaume Apollinaire describing the Ile de Croissy, an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris, frequented by artists and their models, and celebrated in paintings by Monet, Manet, and Renoir. “The Froggery” was a restaurant on the island. The overall images of happy days that cannot be relived can be seen in Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings Les Déjeuner des canotiers (The Boatman’s Luncheon), or La Grenouillère. In this lament for boating parties on the Seine, vocal phrases are sustained and languid, floating over a slowly rocking piano accompaniment. The lazy piano figures mirror the empty tethered boats rocking on the water, bumping against each other, and give expression to the sweet melancholy of the poet’s words. Montparnasse (1945) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Apollinaire’s poem is dated 1912. Poulenc writes in his journal of songs that it took him four years to complete “Montparnasse,” almost phrase by phrase, and that he had no regrets about the length of time it took because “it is one of my best songs.” 2 It is a sentimental and heartfelt tribute to Paris. Both Apollinaire and Poulenc loved the city and it played a continuing role in their work. “Montparnasse” is about the idyllic artistic existence lived at the edge of Paris. Poulenc wrote in his diary: “Let us imagine this Montparnasse all at once discovered by Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Apollinaire.” 3 The mélodie has a carefree nonchalance about it; it is not sad, but thoughtful– a beautiful blend of poetic and musical lyricism. Poulenc’s vocal and harmonic textures are full of surprising harmonic details that bind this song–which he composed in fragments–together into a touching and expressive picture of Paris in the early years of the twentieth century. Bleuet (1939) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets. This is a wartime poem that Apollinaire penned in 1917 in Paris in convalescence after a head injury; both Apollinaire and Poulenc served in World War II. There are several word plays at work here. “Bleuet” was the nickname for French soldiers in World War I, because their uniforms were blue, like the color of a little cornflower, which is a “bleuet.” Also, “Un bleu” was the term used for a raw recruit. “Bleuet” is one of Poulenc’s most moving songs– agonizing in its emotional content yet noble in its message. It is a quiet and private moment in which a twenty-year-old boy who does not yet know all that life can be, is characterized–and addressed–by the poet in a sweetly serious speech. Poulenc wrote that for him, the key to the poem were the words, “It is five o’clock and you would know how to die.” 4 This song is simple, intimate, and poignant. Les Chemins de l’amour (1940) poem by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) Poulenc composed this valse chantée as incidental music for Léocadia, a play by Jean Anouilh. Within the play, the song was described as a pseudo Viennese waltz, and functioned as a leitmotiv in the plot. Sung by Yvonne Printemps, one of France’s most celebrated musical theatre stars, “Les Chemins de l’amour” became a popular success. It embodies the relaxed elegance of a self-styled Viennese waltz style, encased in one of Poulenc’s haunting melodies. Banalités (1940) poems by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Banalités is not a cycle, but a group of five songs. The poems have no connection with each other; however, their order provides a well-constructed recital group. They may be performed separately. The work is one of Poulenc’s most popular vocal works, and deservedly so. Poulenc chose contrasting poems, placing them so that the collection begins briskly and ends with lyrical gravity. “Chanson d’Orkenise” is Poulenc’s title for the poem contained in the strange mixture of prose and poetry that Apollinaire called Onirocritique. Orkenise is a road in Autun leading to the Roman gate of the same name. The musical setting has the feeling of a popular folk song. The narrator sings of a tramp leaving the city and a carter who is entering it - one leaving his heart there, one bringing his heart to be married. There is a word in the poem with a double meaning: “grise” can be translated as “gray” or “tipsy.” The merry quality of the song opens the set with gaiety, but both Apollinaire and Poulenc offer a little food for thought. “Hôtel” is a poem that immediately represented for Poulenc a hotel room in Montparnassse, where the idle poet wants only to bask in the sun’s warmth and smoke. Pierre Bernac referred to it as “the laziest song ever written.” 5 The piano figures are fashioned of Poulenc’s luxuriant chromatic harmonies, stacked as if to cushion the lethargy of the singer. “Fagnes de Wallonie” is set in the gloomy, desolate uplands of the Ardennes with a terrain of vast heaths, twisted trees, and peat bogs, swept by winds of considerable force. Its gloomy setting complements the melancholy mood of the poet. Poulenc’s spiky musical setting is a whirlwind that sweeps from beginning to end in a turbulent texture that demands precise articulation from singer and pianist. Sandwiched between Songs 3 and 5 is a tiny bonbon, “Voyage à Paris.” It resembles a little commercial jingle about Paris–“which one day love must have created”–an invitation to the pleasures of that beautiful city, away from “the dreary countryside.” Poulenc sprinkles his quicksilver setting–a valse-musette–with indications of “amiable” and “avec charme.” The composer referred to it as having “deliciously stupid lines...Anything that concerns Paris I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music.” 6 The cycle concludes with “Sanglots”, one of Apollinaire’s finest poems about the universality of lost love, a theme that Poulenc matches with exquisite modulations in a setting that embodies the essence of the words. The vocal lines are eloquently lyrical. The poem is difficult to understand because of the juxtaposition of the main narrative and the interior “asides,” that in effect form a poem within a poem. 7 The song has an elegant serenity that culminates in a stunning climactic point at the words: “Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme/ Est mort d’amour et le voici.” The ending lines of the song sustain the profoundly calm mood, bringing Banalités to its close. La Courte Paille (1960) poems by Maurice Carême (1899-1978) The last song cycle Poulenc composed was La Courte paille, on seven poems of Belgian poet Maurice Carême. Poulenc composed the songs for soprano Denise Duval, creator of leading roles in his three operas, hoping that she would sing them to her young son. Poulenc considered the mélodies very poetic and whimsical; unfortunately, Duval disliked the music and never did sing the cycle. Poulenc asked Carême to provide an overall title for the work and requested permission to change the titles of several selected poems: the original title of “Quelle aventure!” is “Une puce et l’éléphant”; “Le Reine de cœur” is “Vitres de lune”; “Le carafon” is “La carafe et le carafon.” For the cycle’s title, Carême chose La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), referring to drawing lots by the method of a short straw. Poulenc was delighted, saying the title symbolized his little musical game exactly. He also wrote in his diary, “They must be sung tenderly; that is the surest way to touch the heart of a child.” 8 The cycle is full of child-like innocence, whimsy and imagination, with a few shadowy undertones. The first song, “Le Sommeil,” is a beautiful lullaby to a restless child who cannot go to sleep, tossing and turning in his small bed. He seems ill, crying and perspiring, but hopefully will finally surrender to slumber. In “Quelle aventure!” the child describes an absurd happening: he saw a flea driving a carriage with a small elephant in it. The story grows more bizarre but the rhythmic pace never wavers, careening to the end of the song when the child wonders how on earth he’ll ever be able to persuade “Mama” that it really happened. The verses are witty, yet the shrieks of “Mon Dieu!” are laced with a feeling of childish terror. “La Reine du cœur” is a beautiful, languid melody that paints a picture of the mysterious Queen of Hearts, beckoning to visitors from her frosty castle, where she reigns over a court of lovers, including the young dead. In “Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu...,” the child is chided “on all sides” about studying. The title of the song presents the French vowels, and the text contains words that make their plural with an “x” (“pou, chou, genou, hibou”). The formidable cat of the poem’s opening lines is none other than that tricky feline Puss-in-Boots! The entire song is a little tongue-twister, an exercise in diction and accuracy. “Les anges musiciens” are none other than the school children staying home on Thursday, the half-day school holiday in France in Poulenc’s time, practicing Mozart on their harps, just like good little angel musicians should do. “Le carafon” is a crazy little story of a carafe that longs for a baby carafe (carafon) just like the giraffe at the zoo, who has a girafon. This is a ridiculous rhyming game like those that children love to play. The text is full of whimsical characters: the carafe, a giraffe, a sorcerer astride a phonograph, Merlin, and finally, a carafon. “Lune d’Avril” is another lullaby, very slow and otherworldly, which serves as an epilogue. Bound together in a musical texture that features a syncopated pedal point, it is filled with enchanted images the child wishes to dream about: a land of joy, light, and flowers where all guns are silent. The ending leaves the listener suspended in a mood of unfinished magic. La Courte Paille is the last vocal music Poulenc composed. NOTES: Quoted in Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1977), 125. Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes mélodies, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 75. Ibid., 75. Ibid., 57. Bernac, 72. Poulenc, 67. The English translation of “Sanglots” has parentheses that delineate the “asides” so that both “poems” may be seen. These may be found in Pierre Bernac’s books Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, page 75, or The Interpretation of French Song, pages 284-85 Poulenc, 109. BACK TO TOP MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) The songs of Maurice Ravel represent a transition between the mature mélodies of Debussy and the vocal literature that followed, notably the songs of Les Six. Debussy dominated the French musical scene from the turn of the century until his death in 1918. It was Ravel who was regarded as the leading musical spokesman for France following World War I. He was a skillful craftsman and his songs have a sense of evenness of rhythmic structure and flow that call for scrupulous execution. The fusion of music and text into a logical whole was of utmost importance to him. He composed elegant and subtle mélodies, using classical phrase structure. His melodic phrases often tend toward modality. His songs range from those with a folk-like style to more to those that are more speech-like, and those that encompass a melodic romanticism. He was precise in his thought and his scoring, and scrupulous in his musical execution. His music encompassed some of the fascinating influences of the post-Wagnerian era. Ravel’s musical contributions were of utmost importance to this exciting and new era in French cultural history. He made notable contributions to musical literature for the piano, the French art song, opera, chamber music, orchestral literature, and the ballet. Sur l’herbe (1907) poem by Paul Verlaine (1833-1896) This mélodie is Ravel’s only setting of Verlaine. It has often been suggested that this poem was probably inspired by Watteau’s painting L’île enchantée. There is also a reference to a famous eighteenth-century dancer, Marie-Anne Cuppi, known as (La) Camargo, who was immortalized on canvas by the painter Nicolas Lancret. The scene is an outside gathering, elegant and artificial. A number of people are there, chief among them, a licentious abbé, slightly tipsy from a bit too much Cyprian wine. He exchanges a few disconnected gallantries with the ladies–innocent conversations on the surface, but sensuous in undertone. The conversation is disconnected; we do not know exactly who is speaking. Ravel shapes very flexible vocal phrases, in keeping with the abbé’s intoxicated state, underscored with graceful piano figures that evoke an eighteenth-century dance. In a letter to Jean-Aubrey, Ravel commented on “Sur l’herbe”: “In this piece, as in the Histoires naturelles, the impression must be given that one is almost not singing. A bit of preciosity is found there which is indicated moreover by the text and the music.” 1 Noël des jouets (1905) poem by the composer This is the only solo song for which Ravel wrote the text. It describes a Christmas manger scene, replete with the Virgin and Christ-child, animals, and angels. It embodies Ravel’s delight with tiny mechanical toys and figures, and his fascination with the unspoiled world of child-like experience. His genius for text painting is displayed in the delightful mélodie. The mechanical toys come to life in the piano figures. Ravel’s charming text creates the images around and over the crèche, with not a word wasted. Ravel commented that the music is “clear and plain, like the mechanical toys of the poem.” 2 This little song foreshadows other Ravel settings of make-believe, beginning with the song cycle Histoires naturelles and culminating with his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The music of menacing dog Belzébuth foreshadows the music of the Beast in the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère lOye). Rêves (1927) poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) The poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue has been described as reflecting the union of dream and memory. This mélodie has a tender lyricism within a sparse musical texture. The text is fashioned of a series of miniature images that pass by rather quickly, unrelated, like the images found in dreams. For all their differences, they have a simplicity about them that seems timeless, existing together, as the poet says, “in a vague countryside.” When the dreamer finally awakens, the little fleeting pictures “die quietly.” The piano postlude perpetuates the dream state, creating an ethereal little microcosm that continues to draw the dreamer to it. Ronsard à son âme (1924) poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) In his Abrégé de l’art poétique français (1565) Pierre de Ronsard advocated the union of poetry and music, and Renaissance composers frequently set his poems. 3 In this strikingly simple mélodie, Ronsard speaks to his soul, calling it by a series of diminutives: little soul, dainty little one, sweet little one. Ravel uses a series of parallel fifths in the piano figures to invoke a Renaissance mood. This is Ronsard’s last poem, and Ravel’s last adaptation of Renaissance poetry. Ravel’s setting recalls the elegance of his early mélodie, “D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige,” to a poem of Clément Marot. Manteau de fleurs (1903) poem by Paul Barthélemy Jeulin (1863-1936) The poem notes everything in the garden that is pink–all the flowers that will become a beautiful cloak to complement the beauty of the lady of the poem. Ravel usually had very sophisticated taste in choosing texts; this particular poem is an unusual choice. It is a simple text, somewhat banal, but Ravel’s shimmering musical texture imparts a dramatic character for each flower in the poem. The overall piano texture suggests orchestral colors. The last section of the mélodie changes course slightly, with the piano harmonies creating a slightly wistful mood. Clearly, Ravel lavished a beautiful musical setting on a rather ordinary set of words. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) [Medium/Low Voice edition only] poems by Paul Morand (1888-1976) This miniature cycle was Ravel’s last vocal work. His musical portrait of the noble Spanish knight, Don Quixote, is embodied in three mélodies, all based on characteristic Spanish or Basque dance rhythms: (1) the guajira, alternating 6/8 and 3/4 meter; (2) the zorzica, a Basque dance in quintuple meter; and (3) the jota, a lively triple-metered Spanish dance. “Chanson Romanesque” presents the chivalrous idealist Don Quixote, confidently promising to rearrange everything in nature to his lady Dulcinea’s liking in order to win her favor. Dulcinea is in reality a poor farm girl, but the Don’s illusion will not be shaken. He remains authoritative and focused in his quest for her love. “Chanson épique” is Quixote’s reverent prayer to Saint Michael and Saint George, beseeching them to bless his sword and his Lady. Ravel creates a beautifully sustained and prayerful vocal line over a simple accompaniment. “Chanson à boire” is a exuberant drinking song. Although the Don’s tippling has made him overly boisterous, he never oversteps the bounds of his noble bearing. His robust laughter is heard in the piano figures and even a hiccup intrudes between “lorsque j’ai” and “lorsque j’ai bu.” NOTES: Maurice Ravel, in a letter to Jean-Aubrey written in September, 1907. Quoted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), 165-66. Quoted in Orenstein, 161. Orenstein, 192. BACK TO TOP ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937) In 1894 Albert Roussel left a highly successful career as a naval officer to pursue music. After completing his studies, he became professor of counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Satie and Varèse were among his students. Roussel was one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. He composed almost forty mélodies as well as chamber music, ballets, and operas. His style is eclectic but highly individual. Early works show the influence of Vincent d’Indy, works dating from 1910 to 1920 exhibit influences of Debussy and Ravel, but he turned to neoclassicism in his later compositions. His love for the sea was almost a spiritual attraction and continued to influence his music throughout his career. He had a fascination for distant places; his extended tour of Southeast Asia in 1909 had a tremendous influence on his composition. “Sarabande” and “Cœur en peril” are mélodies to texts of René Chalupt, a close friend. They are found in op. 20 and 50, respectively. Roussel’s overall musical catalogue is not extensive, but its quality is of an extremely high level, and his vocal writing in particular contains some mélodies of great delicacy and style, squarely in the French tradition. For Roussel, the word held primacy in his mélodies, being both transformed by its musical setting and merging with it to create a perfect union. Commenting on the quality of Roussel’s songs, composer Charles Koechlin is quoted as saying: “The sense of austerity pervading them, stemming simply from the composer’s natural reserve, heightens their expressiveness and further embellishes them; in language and content they are absolutely personal. This collection of songs is one which will last because its essence is undying sensitivity.” 1 Sarabande (1919) from Deux mélodies, Op. 20, No. 2 poem by René Chalupt This is surely one of Roussel’s most delicate and magical creations. His writing for the piano is particularly outstanding, placing Chalupt’s poem in an overall texture of elegance and veiled sensuality. There is an Oriental delicacy in Roussel’s musical evocation of the fluttering doves, feathers drifting into a pool, and the gentle drift of chestnut blossoms onto bare flesh. Cœur en péril (1933-34) from Deux mélodies, Op. 50, No. 1 poem by René Chalupt This mélodie is much different in mood–witty and flirtatious. It is the narrative of a young man eager to convince his ladylove of his fidelity. Vocal phrases are tuneful, with a spirited piano texture of Iberian flavor. NOTES: Liner notes, Dom Angelico Surchamp, trans. Elisabeth Carroll, Roussel Mélodies, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Mady Mesplé, Kurt Ollmann, José Van Dam; Dalton Baldwin, Patrick Gallois. EMI Digital. CDS 7492712, 1987 BACK TO TOP ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) Erik Satie wrote very few songs and most of them date from late in his life. The eccentric father figure of the French avant-garde of the twentieth century had a wildly independent spirit that found its way into his musical compositions. Throughout his life, he kept a great deal of childlike inquisitiveness and innocence. He was a curious personality of unconventional habits whose sense of the absurd and whimsy permeated both his life and his music. Quintessential Satie compositions are laconic and witty. It was Satie who named Les Nouveaux Jeunes, soon known as Les Six, and influenced the early development of the group. La Statue de bronze (1916) from Trois Mélodies poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) This is Satie’s first setting of the poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue, the “Bohemian poet of Paris.” Satie used Fargue’s witty verses again for Ludions. The scene is a garden game–the jeu de tonneau. A bronze frog, perched atop a cabinet with numbered chambers, grows impatient of being the target of the game where metal disks are tossed into her mouth. She dreams of being freed from her pedestal and being able to use her wide-open mouth to utter “LE MOT.” 1 She wants to be free to join the other frogs gathered near the rust-colored washhouse “blowing musical bubbles from the soapy moonlight.” But the game continues, the disks rattle through her mouth into numbered compartments and at night, insects sleep in her mouth. This mélodie can be linked musically to “La Grenouille américaine,” found in Ludions. Both songs share piano figures derived from the café-concert chanson. Ludions (1923) poems by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) Ludions is the last of Satie’s purely vocal works, composed two years before his death, and is perhaps his finest set of songs. It epitomizes his lifelong quest for musical simplicity and his irreverence for the intricate compositional techniques and overactive emotions of the Impressionists. Ludions is translated as “bottle imps” (a ludion is a little figure suspended in a hollow ball, which descends or rises in a vase filled with water when one presses down on the elastic membrane covering the mouth of the vase). The cycle is a kaleidoscopic set of musical miniatures, riddled with puns and illogical phrases. Fargue’s nonsensical verse complements Satie’s musical aesthetic, and the two friends’ personalities closely matched one another. All the mélodies in Ludions are short, like tiny cameos. They are colorful, saucy, fantastic, and defy translation. “Air du rat,” “La Grenouille américaine,” and “Chanson du chat” are right out of the music hall, and Satie uses with a mock-serious “tongue-in-cheek” treatment for “Spleen” and “Air du poète.” Je te veux (1902) poem by Henry Pacory (1873-?) The valse chantée, or sung waltz was a favorite of the café concerts, for which Satie composed a number of works. Café concerts were a form of Parisian popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The all-musical programs were held outside; French popular singers presented repertoire that catered to lower and middle-class audiences who came to talk, eat, drink, and observe the long informal programs, for which there was no admission charge. “Je te veux” was composed for Paulette Darty, dubbed “the Queen of the slow waltz.” It was one of her signature musical presentations for the caf’conc (café concerts), and one that Darty remained associated with throughout her career. A statuesque blonde with an ample figure, Darty was a commanding performer who kept the most boisterous of the Saturday night audiences enthralled. Lyricist Henry Pacory’s rather explicit poem was watered down at Satie’s request before the song was published. La Diva de l’Empire (1904) poem by Charles Bessat, named Numa Blès (1871-1917) The “Diva de l’Empire,” 2 one of Satie’s café-concert songs, was another work written for and performed by Paulette Darty. It was composed for a Bonnaud-Blès music-hall revue called Dévidons la Bobine (Let’s Unwind the Bobbin) that toured several seaside resort towns. The British “diva” is a femme fatale performer who enchants all who see her. The song is a syncopated cakewalk describing her seductive beauty as she struts her stuff “showing the wiggling of her legs and some pretty frilly underwear.” Interspersed at points along the way with English words: Greenaway, baby, little girl, etc. The piano provides a jaunty ragtime rhythm throughout that melds perfectly with the suggestive text. NOTES: ”Le mot” has a double meaning. It was the title of a broadsheet published by Jean Cocteau between 1914-15 and is short for “le mot de Cambronne,” a polite way of saying “merde.” Cambronne was a famous French general who replied “Merde!” when asked to surrender. In Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 43. Empire refers to the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, London. BACK TO TOP DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC (1872-1921) Déodat de Séverac, of aristocratic lineage, was born in the Languedoc region of southwest France in Saint-Félix-Caraman (now Saint-Félix Lauragais), near Toulouse. After studies in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, he returned home and remained there. He was a contemporary of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, but was considered a petit maître in their company, possibly because of his return to Languedoc at the completion of his musical studies. Séverac composed piano and orchestral music, operas and songs. The culture of his native Languedoc figured prominently in his music, which is highly descriptive. He often wrote parts for regional folk music in his scores. Many considered him provincial and unsophisticated, but his music displays his skill in integrating folk elements–and often, regional folk instruments–of his native Languedoc into his works. He often referred to himself as “the peasant musician.” Influences of Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Bizet may be found in his mélodies. Although his music is rather conservative in style, Séverac fused folk elements with the musical styles of the day in a unique and individual manner. Ma poupée chérie (1914) poem by the composer Composed in 1914 (and published in 1916) for his daughter Magali and dedicated to her, this little cradlesong is probably de Séverac’s best loved and most performed mélodie. Séverac’s fresh musical setting contains just the right combination of simplicity and delightful childlike honesty. Despite the subject matter, the composer’s heartfelt poem avoids an overly cloying atmosphere. BACK TO TOP OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED: Jane Bathori, On the Interpretation of the Mélodies of Claude Debussy, transl. and with an introduction by Linda Laurent (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998). Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, transl. by Winifred Radford (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977). Pierre Bernac, The Interpretation of French Song, transl. by Winifred Radford(New York: W.W. Norton, 1978). Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870-1925 (New York: George Braziller, 1987). Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001) Alan M. Gillmor, Erik Satie (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992). James Harding, The Ox on the Roof: Scenes from musical life in Paris in the Twenties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986). Peter Hill, ed., The Messiaen Companion (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995). Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2009) Graham Johnson and Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2005). Carol Kimball and Richard Walters, eds., The French Song Anthology (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2001). Timothy LeVan, Masters of the French Art Song (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991). Barbara Meister, Nineteenth-Century French Song (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980). Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975). Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment in the Circle of Erik Satie(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) Caroline Potter, Henri Dutilleux: His Life and Works (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997). Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis: Confidences recueilles par Stéphane Audel (Paris: La Palatine, 1963). Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs [Journal de mes mélodies] transl. by Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1985) Marie-Claire Rohinsky, ed., The Singer’s Debussy (New York: Pelion Press, 1987) Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Vintage Books, 1968). 20TH CENTURY FRENCH ART SONGS Mélodies française du XXe siècle Edited by Carol Kimball Published by Éditions Durand DF 16250/HL 50565798 High Voice edition DF 16251/HL 50565799 Medium/Low Voice edition Distributed in Europe and Asia by Hal Leonard MGB Distributed in North and South America by Hal Leonard Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hal Leonard Australia Download & Print Introductory Notes Complete Online Introductory Notes, Unabridged copyright © 2015 Editions Durand An abridged version of editor Carol Kimball’s “Introduction” appears in the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice publications. Her complete length “Introduction” appears below. See the publications for the poetry texts in French and translations in English. GEORGES AURIC CLAUDE DEBUSSY HENRI DUTILLEUX GABRIEL FAURÉ REYNALDO HAHN ARTHUR HONEGGER JACQUES LEGUERNEY OLIVIER MESSIAEN DARIUS MILHAUD FRANCIS POULENC MAURICE RAVEL ALBERT ROUSSEL ERIK SATIE DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC GEORGES AURIC (1899-1983) George Auric was something of a child prodigy, performing a piano recital at the Musicale Indépendante at the age of fourteen. The following year, the Société Nationale de Musique performed several songs he had composed. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and later with Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. Before he was twenty, Auric had orchestrated and written incidental music for several stage productions and ballets. He composed a significant amount of avant-garde music during the years between 1910-20. Around 1914, he widened his acquaintances to include members of Les Six, a group of composers informally associated with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and became a part of their group. Auric and Francis Poulenc became fast friends and remained so for life. Music criticism was an important part of Auric’s career; his writing focused on promoting the ideals of Les Six and Cocteau. He was also especially known for his film scores, which are consistently imaginative. He forged a major career in the English movies of the 1940s and ’50s. Among his most well-known scores is the music for the film Moulin Rouge. Other popular film titles with scores by Auric include The Lavender Hill Mob, Roman Holiday, Beauty and the Beast, and Bonjour Tristesse. In 1962 he became the director of the Opéra National de Paris and later, chairman of SACEM, the French Performing Rights Society. Auric continued to write classical chamber music until his death. Le Jeune sanguine (1940) from Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin poem by Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969) This mélodie is the second song in Auric’s cycle titled Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Vilmorin’s poetry reverberates with sensitivity to affairs of the heart. She was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets; he set her poetry when writing specifically for the female voice, such as in Fiançailles pour rire. A sort of veiled humor is at the heart of this text that describes a young hussy whose lover departs early with the dawn’s first light, leaving her weeping disconsolately. Auric provides a prelude and postlude for formal balance as the miserable young woman mourns her loss. He also inserts several unexpected and amusing measures of a tango as the young man arches his back and leaves the sound of her sobbing. For his three Vilmorin songs, Auric used the style of a chansonette, or more popular song. Printemps (1935) Poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Auric composed this lilting waltz song for a play by Edouard Bourdet titled La Reine Margot (1935). The celebrated musical theatre actress-singer Yvonne Printemps created the role of Queen Margot of Navarre at Théâtre de la Michodière. Auric and Francis Poulenc collaborated on the incidental music for this play; Poulenc took the second act, Auric the first. Poulenc composed the Suite française and the song “A sa guitare”; Auric’s contribution was “Printemps.” Yvonne Printemps sang both songs in the play. Both composers used texts by Pierre de Ronsard, and the musical style of each is reminiscent of the Renaissance. Ronsard’s original poem had twenty-three stanzas. Auric set only the first three. BACK TO TOP CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Claude Debussy wrote expertly for the voice and was acutely responsive to transforming poetic nuance into musical expression. Possibly no other French composer was as attuned to blending poetry and music. His literary taste was highly refined and he maintained a visible and active role in the literary and artistic circles of his time. He chose to set poetry of his contemporaries, notably Verlaine and Mallarmé. Verlaine’s verse with its inherent musical qualities, provided Debussy with poetry for numerous works. For Debussy, poetry as poetry was the paramount determinant of the musical texture. His ability to detect the essence of a poem and perfectly transform it into musical expression makes his mélodies unique in the history of French song. Le promenoir des deux amants (1904, 1910) poems by Tristan l’Hermite (c. 1601-1656) “Auprès de cette grotte sombre,” the first song, made its first appearance with the title “La Grotte,” song two of Trois chansons de France of 1904. In 1910, it was retitled and combined with two other poems by Tristan l’Hermite (“Crois mon conseil, chère Climène” and “Je tremble en voyant ton visage”) to form the miniature cycle Le Promenoir de deux amants, which has been called the finest of all Debussy’s works for voice and piano. It is also the least-often performed. Debussy chose the texts from Les Amours de Tristan, a collection by the seventeenth-century poet Tristan l’Hermite. The poems are set close to a grotto, secluded and silent. The transparent, barely stirring waters mingle with the silence of the cloistered spot, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Debussy establishes an intimate, tender mood immediately and maintains this fragile mix of sound and color throughout the three mélodies. The interplay of resonance and texture in voice and piano results in an exquisite blend of light and shade, perfectly complementing l’Hermite’s poetic images. Subtly inflected vocal phrases are key to recreating the infinite calm and Pelléas-like atmosphere of the poetry, a perfect fusion of stillness and sensuality. Fêtes galantes II (1904) poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Debussy’s fascination with the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine resulted in his setting to music no fewer than seventeen of Verlaine’s texts. He composed two sets of three songs each, both titled Fêtes galantes, the first in 1892, and the second in 1904. Fêtes galantes II, Debussy’s last setting of Verlaine, closely following the composition of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, is representative of the composer’s mature vocal works. It is marked by sparser textures, freer tonalities and a more concentrated compositional style than the first set; but like the first set, Fêtes galantes II presents three unrelated songs. None of the Watteau-like scenes are found here; rather, these three poems are filled with mystery, and are without sentimentality. The theme of time appears in each of the poems: the first, sentimental youthful remembrances; the second, inexorable fleeting time; and finally in the last song, time never to be reclaimed. “Les Ingénus” recalls the first awakenings of sexual attraction, and deals with the breathless awe with which a group of unsophisticated young men of the mid-nineteenth century view their similarly naïve female companions. The scene unfolds in a highly chromatic texture, skillfully balanced to preserve the delicate, poignant images in Verlaine’s verse. Debussy’s free-floating harmonies are carefully contrived to complement the uncertain emotions and repressed sensations of the youths in the poem. “Le Faune” begins with a prelude; time unravels in an inflexible dance featuring a rhythmic, hypnotic figure in the piano, imaging the traditional reed pipe and “tambourin,” a small drum played with a stick. The old terra-cotta statue in Verlaine’s poem is probably the woodland god Pan, playing a monotonous rhythm that is both sensual and slightly menacing, matching the mood of the two mélancolique pélerins. Mesmerized by the repetitive rhythms of drum and reed flute, the dejected travelers are caught in the whirlpool of passing time, which spins past as they watch helplessly. “Colloque sentimental.” Colloquial (colloque) refers to ordinary speech or conversation. This disturbing poem is the touchstone of one of Debussy’s great mélodies. It is the last poem in Verlaine’s collection titled Fêtes galantes, and provides a chilling climax. It blends themes of despair, death and disillusion. In this extraordinary song, the ghosts of two lovers meet in a wintry park. As they speak of their former love, their words match the setting: glacial and detached from feeling. Throughout the song their wintry words are enhanced by Debussy’s simple and subtle vocal treatment: one voice urgent and persistent, the other stonily indifferent. Debussy’s manipulation of musical texture between voice and piano is masterful. The sparse vocal lines are almost speech-like, and the piano figures mirror the frozen landscape in which this conversation–equally cold–takes place. The song’s kinship to Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande is unmistakable. The listener becomes one with the poem’s narrator, straining to see and hear the couple’s conversation in the icy cold of the deserted, frozen park. Debussy reaches back to “En sourdine” (the first mélodie of Fêtes galantes I), takes the wistful song of the nightingale, and inserts it into this song at various points. The nightingale’s melody (“voix de nôtre dessespoir, le rossignol chantera”) provides a touching and melancholy association, linking the two sets of Fêtes galantes together symbolically and musically, foreshadowing the disenchantment of love hinted at in “En sourdine” with the lovers’ conversation in “Colloque sentimental,” and unifying the two sets by a subtle musical component. This panel of three mélodies was Debussy’s last setting of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons (1915) poem by the composer This is Debussy’s last song, written to his own text, a Christmas carol for children made homeless by World War I. Its intensity comes from its simple sincerity. Debussy composed it on the eve of his first operation for the cancer that would end his life two years later. It was his personal protest against the invasion of northern France by the German armies. When asked for permission to orchestrate the song, Debussy refused, saying, “I want this piece to be sung with the most discreet accompaniment. Not a word of the text must be lost, inspired as it is by the rapacity of our enemies. It is the only way I have to fight the war.” Originally composed in 1915 for piano and voice, Debussy also created a version for children’s chorus, and in 1916, a version for piano and two sopranos. BACK TO TOP HENRI DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) Henri Dutilleux studied at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Emmanuel. He received the Prix de Rome in 1938 at age twenty-two, and went on to work at the Paris Opéra and the French Radio. France’s musical institutions defined his career: in 1961, he joined the faculty at the école Normale de Musique, teaching composition. In 1970, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He destroyed many of his early works, considering them derivative of Ravel, the preeminent composer in France during his youth. His music that had been published avoided demolition. After World War II, Dutilleux concentrated almost exclusively on instrumental and orchestral music, much of which has been widely programmed and recorded. His songs are not well known. In the chronological catalogue of his compositions, beginning in 1929, the Quatre mélodies for mezzo soprano or baritone is only the eleventh entry. It also exists in an orchestral version. The collection is dedicated to the French baritone Charles Panzéra and his wife, pianist Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot, prominent interpreters of French song in the interwar years. Gabriel Fauré dedicated his last cycle, L’horizon chimérique, to Panzéra. Quatre mélodies (1942) uses poems by four different poets and presents a delightful collection of moods, although it must be admitted that the level of the poetry is not uniformly high: “Féérie au clair de lune” (poem by Raymond Genty), a graceful scherzo of dancing fairies that evokes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Pour une amie perdue” (Edmond Borsent); “Regards sur l’infini” (Anna de Noailles); and “Fantasio” (André Bellessort). The last mélodie is the most successful of the set and is one of two songs from the set (the other being “Pour une amie perdue”) that Dutilleux acknowledged. He wanted to exclude the first and third songs because their poetry was relatively mediocre. Fantasio (1942) from Quatre Mélodies poem by André Bellessort (1866-1942) “Fantasio” (the original title of Bellessort’s poem is “Les funérailles de Fantasio”) is a colorful poem that chronicles the funeral of the titled character, who has expired before the text begins. The poem, set in Venice during Carnival, is full of glittering and compelling imagery that changes quickly, following the pace of the Carnival. Musical textures are skillfully handled and exhibit some of Dutilleux’s developing style. “Pauvre Fantasio,” is heard several times during the text, acting as both a funereal chant that unifies the proceedings and perhaps as well, keeping the mourners’ footsteps marching together. BACK TO TOP GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Gabriel Fauré was one of the great composers of French song who, with Duparc and Debussy, perfected the mélodie as a true art song form. He composed about a hundred songs, all original in conception, constantly developing in style, and pointing the way to future works. His songs express a broad range of emotion and a great variety of musical textures, extending the musical parameters of the genre and inspiring new techniques of song compositions. His songs are often divided into three compositional periods for purposes of study and definition. Fauré has been characterized as a skillful watchmaker; with great precision his songs, which overflow with subtle nuances and delicate detail. His approach is in keeping with the French musical aesthetic: elegant and rational, dealing with sentiment rather than literal sensation. He was able to capture the entire poetic mood of each poem he set and to create an aura around it with his musical setting. Dans la fôret de septembre, Op. 85, No. 1 (1902) poem by Catulle Mendès (1841-1909) This touching poem symbolizes the onset of old age. Mendès was among the founders of a literary magazine, La Revue fantaisiste, which published many poems of the Parnassian poets. Fauré’s musical style perfectly suited this style of poetry: elegance of style, richness of rhyme, regularity and symmetry of rhythm. The Parnassians avoided the excessively romantic and aimed for “art-for-art’s sake.” Fauré was nearly sixty years old when he composed this mélodie, and his reaction to this poem is beautifully poignant. The words describe the poet’s reflective walk through a quiet, somber forest, capturing the chill of mortality and the overall mood of the turning point of life. The ancient forest, sensing a kindred spirit, provides the walker with a sign of friendship and understanding. Fauré set this contemplative poem in a rich harmonic musical texture with a vocal line that borders on quasi-recitative-like shapes. The solemn thoughts of old age call forth a melancholy, but it is a subtle melancholy. It is almost hymn-like in the fusion of words, emotions, and musical texture. This mélodie may be considered as marking the threshold to the final period of Fauré’s compositions. Accompagnement, Op. 85, No. 3 (1902) poem by Albert Victor Samain (1858-1900) This mélodie is a beautiful barcarolle–a nighttime scene, silvery and hazy, alluring but unreal. The image of the poet rowing on the lake is reflected in the musical texture. Fauré had a lifelong fascination with water imagery in music; this poem offers a little reel of unfolding pictures of a moonlight journey a dark lake. The words “dans le rêve” tell us that this is all a dream. This is a rarely sung Fauré mélodie that yields great rewards for the performer. Chanson, Op. 94 (1906) poem by Henri di Régnier (1864-1936) This poem has a gentle charm and a calm simplicity. It is the last of Fauré’s madrigals that include delicate love songs such as “Lydia,” and “Clair de lune.” It has a wonderful fluidity that is a perfect foil for the poetic images The text is a simple set of variations on one theme: nothing on earth has any meaning unless the beloved somehow touches it. Fauré’s reaction to the words called forth a musical setting of delicate transparency and limited range. It is not well known; like “Le Don silencieux,” “Chanson” was published as a single song and therefore not widely disseminated. It is an example of exquisitely planned musical economy, and definitely belongs in Fauré’s third period of musical compositions. Le Don silencieux, Op. 92 (1906) poem by Marie Closset (1875-1952), under the pseudonym Jean Dominique Here is another little known Fauré song, a rarity because it was published separately and was never included in any of the Fauré recueils. The poem has a gentle melancholy–the plea of a timid lover, a mixture of hope and imagined disappointment. The words are tender and flowing, but the overall mood is one of unrelieved sadness. This song marks the beginning of Fauré’s third compositional period, which includes the cycles La Chanson d’Eve, Le Jardin clos, Mirages, and L’Horizon chimérique. Writing of this mélodie in a letter to his wife, Fauré said, It does not in the least resemble any of my previous works, nor anything that I am aware of; I am very pleased about this...It translates the words gradually as they unfold themselves; it begins, opens out, and finishes, nothing more, nevertheless it is unified. 1 NOTES: Quoted in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2009), 291. Quotation from Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 304. This is a translation of Fauré’s letter to his wife of 17 August 1906. BACK TO TOP REYNALDO HAHN (1875-1947) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan by birth, came to Paris with his family at age four and made a brilliant career. In addition to his career as a composer and singer, he was director of the Paris Opéra, music critic for the newspaper Figaro, and conductor of the Salzburg Festival. He was enough of a scholar to edit some of the works of Rameau. He maintained close friendships throughout his life with actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Marcel Proust. During the Belle époque, French mélodie was at the height of its development. Hahn was a habitué of the most fashionable salons, where he was in demand as a performer. On these occasions, he usually sang and played his own accompaniment, often with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The art of singing was one of his major passions, and he wrote three books on singing (Du chant, Thèmes varies, and L’oreille au guet), as well as a memoir of Sarah Bernhardt. Hahn’s songs are models of French restraint–devoid of overt display, with beautiful melodies in a modest vocal range. They reflect the style of his teacher, Jules Massenet. Hahn composed approximately ninety-five works for solo voice: eighty-four mélodies, five English songs to texts of Robert Louis Stevenson, and six Italian songs in the Venetian dialect. After 1912, Hahn composed in larger forms: opera, operetta, and film music. Perhaps his most famous work is his operetta Ciboulette (1923), which is still performed. À Chloris (1916) poem by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) “À Chloris” is No. 14 in Deuxième volume de vingt mélodies, the last major publication of Hahn’s songs during his lifetime. In many of his later songs, he turned to a deliberately archaic style. “À Chloris” features an elegant vocal line above a piano texture that features Baroque musical characteristics; it is its own piece, with ornamented melody and chaconne-like bass. Vocal line and piano piece are woven into a musical tapestry that is both declarative and intimate. Poet Théophile de Viau was considered one of the most influential libertin poets during Louis XIII’s reign. The libertins’ verses had a unique charm that is instantly appealing, but somewhat artificial. Despite this, de Viau’s love poetry is not bland, but full of suggestive passion and elegant wit. BACK TO TOP ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892-1955) Arthur Honegger composed over forty mélodies for voice and piano. Taken as a whole, they are diverse and imaginative. For his texts, he favored contemporary poets such as Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, and Paul Fort. He also chose to set unrelated poems by a single poet, such as his Poesies (Cocteau) and Alcools (Apollinaire). Poetry with strong imagery appealed to the dramatist in his personality. For Honegger, as for most successful mélodie composers, the word provides the starting place. He is quoted as saying: For me, the music a song is always dependent upon the poetic model. It must join so closely with the poetry, that they become inseparable and one can picture the poem in wholly musical terms. This is not to say that the music becomes subservient. It must be so crafted that it can stand on its own merits, playable without the text, logical and complete. 1 Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, Arthur Honegger initially studied for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, but enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d’Indy. Some of his more familiar large vocal works include the dramatic psalm Le roi David (King David), composed in 1921 and still in the choral repertoire; and his dramatic oratorio of 1935, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the stake), with text by Paul Claudel, considered to be one of his finest works. Between the world wars, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among works in other genres. His total compositional catalog is an impressive list of music: orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballets, operas, operettas, and oratorios. Widely known as a train enthusiast, he was passionately interested in locomotives, to which he attributed almost human characteristics. His “mouvement symphonique,” Pacific 231, gained him early acclaim in 1923. Honegger’s musical style is a fascinating mixture of impressionistic effects peppered with penetrating dissonances. He had a fondness for mixing tonalities and using modality. His compositions for the voice display an eclectic focus of coloristic harmonies and architectural clarity. He was a member of Les Six, but unlike most of that group, did not share their overwhelming reaction against German romanticism. Honegger’s musical style is fuller and more serious than his colleagues. He and Darius Milhaud were close friends. Honegger’s generous body of song has proved of enduring interest to contemporary performers. His was a distinctive voice in the vocal music of the twentieth-century French mélodie. Trois Psaumes (1940-41) from the Huguenot Psalter Psaumes XXXIV and CXL translated by Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) Psaume CXXXVIII translated by Clément Marot (1496-1544) The spirit of Bach shines in the first psaume, “Psalm 34,” in which a chant-like vocal line alternates with a gently moving episodic keyboard part. This call and response continues until the last three vocal phrases, when the vocal line merges with the instrumental texture in a psalm of praise. The second song is “Psalm 140,” “ô Dieu donne-moi la déliverance de cet homme pernicieux” (O God, deliver me from this evil man). Honegger’s biographer, Harry Halbreich, suggests that the “evil man” who was oppressing Europe in those last days of 1940 might be the reason for Honegger’s text choice. This piece was composed before the first and third songs. Its emotional mood peaks with the chorale tune “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2 The last song in the set, “Psalm 138,” has the Latin title “Confiteor tibi, Domine” (I thank thee, O Lord) and is a paraphrase by Clément Marot, one of the greatest of the French Renaissance poets. It contains a familiar chorale tune, which is used in canon between voice and piano. NOTES: Arthur Canter and Rachel Joselson, Liner notes, The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney. Rachel Joselson, Réne Lecuona , piano. Albany Records, TROY691, 2004. Harry Halbreich, trans. Roger Nichols, Arthur Honegger (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 165. BACK TO TOP JACQUES LEGUERNEY (1906-1997) Most of Jacques Leguerney’s sixty-eight mélodies were composed and published from 1940 to 1964. Many were commissioned and premiered by French baritone Gérard Souzay, his sister, soprano Geneviève Touraine, and pianist Jacqueline Bonneau. Early songs are comparable in mood and style with Ravel or Roussel (who encouraged Leguerney’s composition); later songs have been compared to those of his contemporary, Poulenc. Leguerney writes virtuoso piano parts–often dramatic, and with such an individual sense of harmonic style and color that Pierre Bernac reportedly described them as “mélodies de pianist.” 1 When asked about Leguerney’s songs, Gérard Souzay wrote, “How does one describe this music which is, at the same time, classic and modern? It is pure, but colorfully nuanced; it speaks to the heart as well as the mind–at times calm at times witty–wise, yet sensual...” 2 Many of Leguerney’s songs deal with themes of love and nature, expressing a huge range of emotions from deeply felt meditation to wild, ribald humor. Leguerney stopped composing in 1964, and his songs became neglected. The quality of Leguerney’s text setting, lyrical beauty, and harmonic innovations all call for his songs to be better known and more widely performed. Jacques Leguerney was drawn to the work of Renaissance poets, notably Ronsard. There are eight collections titled Poèmes de la Pléaide, representing settings of sixteenth and seventeenth-century French poetry and totaling thirty-two songs. Additionally, there are cycles and other collections [for a complete listing of Leguerney’s songs, see Dibbern, Kimball, and Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney]. 3 They may be thought of as the last in the great mainstream of twentieth-century French song. La Caverne d’écho (1954) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 7 poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594-1661) Dedication: Josiane and Jean Cier. First performance: Bernard Kruysen, baritone; Jean-Charles Richard, pianist. 29 May 1965, Radio France Culture. Marc-Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant, wrote poetry of great descriptive power, and his use of language set him apart from the other seventeenth-century poets. He was also an adept musician and skillful lute player, writing verses that often describe musical sounds linked to visual images. The poem takes place in a dark cave, home of the nymph, Echo; it is a charmed place, absolutely still and peaceful. The poet’s lute resounds inside the cavern as he tries to soothe the inconsolable Echo, who mourns for her lover Narcissus. Leguerney creates the grotto’s mysterious resonance with bitonality. Piano figures illustrate the strumming of the lute. The text contains many sounds with the consonant “r.” The rolling quality of this speech sonority re-creates the cavern’s resonance. The closing measures of the mélodie produce a striking effect as the singer’s voice echoes eerily in the cavern, blending with the piano’s resonance and creating a remarkably realistic echo. À son page (1944) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 2 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Gérard Souzay. First performance: Gérard Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Robin (Bonneau). 3 May 1945, Salle Gaveau, Paris. This is a lusty scene with four characters: a nobleman tipsy from drink, his page, and two women, Jeanne and Barbe. Carpe diem is the theme here. The singer philosophizes on this idea while enjoying his wine and the tender companionship of the two beautiful women. Leguerney evokes the crackling staccato of a stylized harpsichord with rhythmic accents in the piano. The text is brilliantly set with jagged vocal lines and driving rhythms that illustrate the singer’s intoxication. It ends with Leguerney’s repetition of the last poetic line and the addition of nonsense syllables which fit beautifully into the imagery and mood of Ronsard’s colorful characters. Je me lamente (1943) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 1 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Geneviève Touraine. First performance: Paul Derenne, tenor; Jeanne Blancard, pianist. 29 March 1944, Salle de l’Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris. This is one of Leguerney’s most beautiful songs, setting Pierre de Ronsard’s text from his collection of love poems for Marie Dupin, a country girl from a small village in southern France. She was half his age and probably represented the youth he constantly pursued. It has been suggested that the Marie in question was probably Marie de Clèves, passionately adored by Henri III. 4 Leguerney called this mélodie a constant crescendo from beginning to end. 5 Ronsard’s anguish is captured with a texture of stark chords, crowned by a regal and sustained vocal line. As the song progresses, the poet’s anguish is embodied in a more expansive texture, bidding Marie a happy resting place near God or in the Elysian fields. NOTES: Liner notes by Mary Dibbern. Mélodies sur poèmes de la Renaissance (Jacques Leguerney).Harmonia Mundi France. LP recording HMC 1171. Letter to the author. Quoted in Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun. Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 3. Ibid., 289-295. Ibid., 69. See note 20. Ibid., 70. BACK TO TOP OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He grew up around words and absorbed their shapes, colors and sounds naturally. His father, Pierre Messiaen, was a well-known translator of Shakespeare, and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a poet. As a youngster, before beginning to compose music, he had an especially perceptive ear attuned to the unique prosody of the French language. Early in his compositional career, he published a book titled Technique de mon langage musical (1944). About his musical setting of words, Jane Manning observes: ...the syllables themselves create a glittering mosaic of sonorities and subtle resonances, in addition to their actual meaning (many of the poems do not translate at all satisfactorily). The composer’s awareness of the minutiae of verbal enunciations and articulations is miraculous. Each vocal sound can be precisely placed as intended, all dynamics are scrupulously plotted, and the performer’s involvement and intimate connection to the music is enhanced by the sensual nature of words projection... 1 He often used stained glass to explain his music. When viewed from a distance, the myriad details blend into a single entity, whose purpose is to dazzle the listener. Understanding is not necessary, feeling is the prime requisite. The music of Olivier Messiaen is a skillfully designed and unique language, with meaning and form kept separate. Its meaning is unchangeable, harkening back to Gregorian chant, culminating in instruments that are able to prolong sound (organ, strings, or the ondes Martenot). Messiaen’s musical language is defined by its rhythms and tone colors. His uncanny instinct for associating sound with color produced works unique in their concept of the combination of sounds. He said that when he heard or read music, his mind’s eye saw colors that move with the music; he sensed these colors, and at times he precisely indicated their arrangements in his scores. His fascination with birdsong was lifelong; he referred to himself as an ornithologist and tracked birds and their songs all over the world. He considered their resonances as songs and not merely sounds. He notated these on manuscript paper and they found their way into his music. Trois mélodies (1930) poems by Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927) This little cycle of songs is Messiaen’s first recognized work for voice and piano. The songs are modest in length and not typical of Messiaen’s later style, but show influences of late Fauré and Duparc in the overall musical texture. There is only one song in his vocal compositions in which Messiaen set the poetry of another poet. It is found in this cycle, which uses the text of his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage, who died three years before the composition of this work. The three movements form a warm and delicate little triptych. Two of Messiaen’s own poems stand on either side of the poem by Cécile Sauvage, throwing that charming little poem into high relief. “Pourquoi?” introduces a litany of the pleasures of nature: birdsong, the unfolding seasons, and water images. The poet becomes emotional, asking why all these bring him no joy. “La Sourire,” the shortest song of the set, is a beautiful microcosm of intimate and spiritual understanding between two people. It is a delicate example of musical economy and word setting in a quasi-recitative style. The last song, “La fiancée perdue,” offers fleeting hints of Messiaen’s cycle to come, Poèmes pour Mi–most specifically, the final song. Here, the poet prays for divine blessing on the soul of the “fiancée” in the title. The fervent incantation illuminates and affirms man’s connection to a higher authority. Examining the poetic content of the three texts, we are struck by the images that underlie the words: the emotional outburst “pourquoi,” (why?), perhaps questioning the death of Cécile, followed by Cécile’s tender affirmation of love, and finally, the prayer asking for Divine grace and the blessing of the soul of the departed. NOTES: Jane Manning, “The Songs and Song Cycles,” in The Messiaen Companion, ed. Peter Hill (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995), 107. BACK TO TOP DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974) Darius Milhaud was probably the most prolific composer of the group known as Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, and Milhaud). The group was unified by friendship rather than a single musical style. Championed by influential writer Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie, Les Six often presented their works at the same concerts and met with great regularity–often at Milhaud’s house–to make music and exchange ideas. Louis Durey observed that it was the wide diversity in their personalities and musical styles that gave the group its rich depth and permitted its development. Embodied in the credo of their musical thought was relative sparseness of texture and clarity. Turn-of-the-century France offered popular entertainments that drew the French to an environment of merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, outdoor concerts, circuses, and a jumble of excitement. Milhaud was fascinated by Parisian street life, and could hear the sounds of the Montmartre fair from his apartment. Often on their group outings, Les Six went together to the Cirque de Médrano to see the Fratellinis, a famous family of clowns of that day. Milhaud observed that their acts were worthy of the Commedia dell’arte. 1 Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Op. 59 (1920) poems by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Trois poèmes de Jean Cocteau is like lyric fragments. The small-range vocal lines have a sparse lyricism–one of emotional mood rather than overt melody. The little mélodies are skillful studies in brevity. These match Cocteau’s rather enigmatic poems that exemplify the style termed dépouillé (stripped to the essentials), his aesthetic creed. Milhaud dedicated the songs to Satie. The three miniatures are a colorful kaleidoscope of the circus and the outdoor fairs that entranced the French during this period. “Fumée” describes the equestrienne of the Cirque Médrano atop a horse, jumping through hoops, captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s familiar painting titled “L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando (1888); “Fête de Bordeaux” is a description of the merry-go-round at the Bordeaux fair; and “Fête de Montmartre” evokes the nighttime boats and sailors, possibly having to do with a game involving camouflaged ships found at the Montmartre fair. Milhaud infuses stylistic and melodic elements of folk songs and children’s tunes into the tiny pieces, tying the innate excitement of these popular destinations to simple, childlike reactions. NOTES: Laurence Davies, The Gallic Muse (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1967), 164. BACK TO TOP FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Francis Poulenc’s 150 mélodies form the largest body of songs to be added to French vocal literature in the twentieth century. Poulenc’s flair for the dramatic, combined with his superb skill in mixing poetry and music, produced songs that singers find immensely gratifying, not only for their musical value, but for their heightened sense of drama. Poulenc’s mélodies reflect concern and feeling for declamation, inflection, breathing, and above all, show extraordinary warmth of feeling for the human voice. He was fond of saying, “J’aime la voix humaine!” The sophistication of Poulenc’s songs spring from their poetic inspirations. Poulenc was quite knowledgeable about poetry, and chose his texts carefully. His gift of divining the inner life of the texts he set produced songs that do more than merely illustrate the poems. His gift for melody is at the very heart of all his songs and seems to assert itself naturally in shaping the color, weight, and meaning of the texts he set. Ce doux petit visage (1938) poem by Paul éluard (1895-1952) Paul Eluard was one of Poulenc’s three main poets. This is a beautiful introduction to Eluard’s poetry, lyrical and passionately intense. The simplicity of Poulenc’s setting allows the poem to shine. It is one of Poulenc’s tiny gems, and he admitted his partiality to the short song. Eluard’s skill at evoking nostalgia and melancholy are seen here, linked to lost youth. The mélodie is dedicated to the memory of Raymonde Linossier, Poulenc’s most intimate childhood friend, who influenced his literary taste and musical tendencies. He said: “I have a great liking for this short song. Raymonde Linossier was my best advisor for the music of my youth. How many times, during the years since her death, I would have liked to have had her opinion on this or the other of my works.” 1 La Grenouillère (1938) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) “La Grenouillère” is an outstanding example of Poulenc’s romantic lyricism. This is a text by Guillaume Apollinaire describing the Ile de Croissy, an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris, frequented by artists and their models, and celebrated in paintings by Monet, Manet, and Renoir. “The Froggery” was a restaurant on the island. The overall images of happy days that cannot be relived can be seen in Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings Les Déjeuner des canotiers (The Boatman’s Luncheon), or La Grenouillère. In this lament for boating parties on the Seine, vocal phrases are sustained and languid, floating over a slowly rocking piano accompaniment. The lazy piano figures mirror the empty tethered boats rocking on the water, bumping against each other, and give expression to the sweet melancholy of the poet’s words. Montparnasse (1945) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Apollinaire’s poem is dated 1912. Poulenc writes in his journal of songs that it took him four years to complete “Montparnasse,” almost phrase by phrase, and that he had no regrets about the length of time it took because “it is one of my best songs.” 2 It is a sentimental and heartfelt tribute to Paris. Both Apollinaire and Poulenc loved the city and it played a continuing role in their work. “Montparnasse” is about the idyllic artistic existence lived at the edge of Paris. Poulenc wrote in his diary: “Let us imagine this Montparnasse all at once discovered by Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Apollinaire.” 3 The mélodie has a carefree nonchalance about it; it is not sad, but thoughtful– a beautiful blend of poetic and musical lyricism. Poulenc’s vocal and harmonic textures are full of surprising harmonic details that bind this song–which he composed in fragments–together into a touching and expressive picture of Paris in the early years of the twentieth century. Bleuet (1939) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets. This is a wartime poem that Apollinaire penned in 1917 in Paris in convalescence after a head injury; both Apollinaire and Poulenc served in World War II. There are several word plays at work here. “Bleuet” was the nickname for French soldiers in World War I, because their uniforms were blue, like the color of a little cornflower, which is a “bleuet.” Also, “Un bleu” was the term used for a raw recruit. “Bleuet” is one of Poulenc’s most moving songs– agonizing in its emotional content yet noble in its message. It is a quiet and private moment in which a twenty-year-old boy who does not yet know all that life can be, is characterized–and addressed–by the poet in a sweetly serious speech. Poulenc wrote that for him, the key to the poem were the words, “It is five o’clock and you would know how to die.” 4 This song is simple, intimate, and poignant. Les Chemins de l’amour (1940) poem by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) Poulenc composed this valse chantée as incidental music for Léocadia, a play by Jean Anouilh. Within the play, the song was described as a pseudo Viennese waltz, and functioned as a leitmotiv in the plot. Sung by Yvonne Printemps, one of France’s most celebrated musical theatre stars, “Les Chemins de l’amour” became a popular success. It embodies the relaxed elegance of a self-styled Viennese waltz style, encased in one of Poulenc’s haunting melodies. Banalités (1940) poems by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Banalités is not a cycle, but a group of five songs. The poems have no connection with each other; however, their order provides a well-constructed recital group. They may be performed separately. The work is one of Poulenc’s most popular vocal works, and deservedly so. Poulenc chose contrasting poems, placing them so that the collection begins briskly and ends with lyrical gravity. “Chanson d’Orkenise” is Poulenc’s title for the poem contained in the strange mixture of prose and poetry that Apollinaire called Onirocritique. Orkenise is a road in Autun leading to the Roman gate of the same name. The musical setting has the feeling of a popular folk song. The narrator sings of a tramp leaving the city and a carter who is entering it - one leaving his heart there, one bringing his heart to be married. There is a word in the poem with a double meaning: “grise” can be translated as “gray” or “tipsy.” The merry quality of the song opens the set with gaiety, but both Apollinaire and Poulenc offer a little food for thought. “Hôtel” is a poem that immediately represented for Poulenc a hotel room in Montparnassse, where the idle poet wants only to bask in the sun’s warmth and smoke. Pierre Bernac referred to it as “the laziest song ever written.” 5 The piano figures are fashioned of Poulenc’s luxuriant chromatic harmonies, stacked as if to cushion the lethargy of the singer. “Fagnes de Wallonie” is set in the gloomy, desolate uplands of the Ardennes with a terrain of vast heaths, twisted trees, and peat bogs, swept by winds of considerable force. Its gloomy setting complements the melancholy mood of the poet. Poulenc’s spiky musical setting is a whirlwind that sweeps from beginning to end in a turbulent texture that demands precise articulation from singer and pianist. Sandwiched between Songs 3 and 5 is a tiny bonbon, “Voyage à Paris.” It resembles a little commercial jingle about Paris–“which one day love must have created”–an invitation to the pleasures of that beautiful city, away from “the dreary countryside.” Poulenc sprinkles his quicksilver setting–a valse-musette–with indications of “amiable” and “avec charme.” The composer referred to it as having “deliciously stupid lines...Anything that concerns Paris I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music.” 6 The cycle concludes with “Sanglots”, one of Apollinaire’s finest poems about the universality of lost love, a theme that Poulenc matches with exquisite modulations in a setting that embodies the essence of the words. The vocal lines are eloquently lyrical. The poem is difficult to understand because of the juxtaposition of the main narrative and the interior “asides,” that in effect form a poem within a poem. 7 The song has an elegant serenity that culminates in a stunning climactic point at the words: “Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme/ Est mort d’amour et le voici.” The ending lines of the song sustain the profoundly calm mood, bringing Banalités to its close. La Courte Paille (1960) poems by Maurice Carême (1899-1978) The last song cycle Poulenc composed was La Courte paille, on seven poems of Belgian poet Maurice Carême. Poulenc composed the songs for soprano Denise Duval, creator of leading roles in his three operas, hoping that she would sing them to her young son. Poulenc considered the mélodies very poetic and whimsical; unfortunately, Duval disliked the music and never did sing the cycle. Poulenc asked Carême to provide an overall title for the work and requested permission to change the titles of several selected poems: the original title of “Quelle aventure!” is “Une puce et l’éléphant”; “Le Reine de cœur” is “Vitres de lune”; “Le carafon” is “La carafe et le carafon.” For the cycle’s title, Carême chose La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), referring to drawing lots by the method of a short straw. Poulenc was delighted, saying the title symbolized his little musical game exactly. He also wrote in his diary, “They must be sung tenderly; that is the surest way to touch the heart of a child.” 8 The cycle is full of child-like innocence, whimsy and imagination, with a few shadowy undertones. The first song, “Le Sommeil,” is a beautiful lullaby to a restless child who cannot go to sleep, tossing and turning in his small bed. He seems ill, crying and perspiring, but hopefully will finally surrender to slumber. In “Quelle aventure!” the child describes an absurd happening: he saw a flea driving a carriage with a small elephant in it. The story grows more bizarre but the rhythmic pace never wavers, careening to the end of the song when the child wonders how on earth he’ll ever be able to persuade “Mama” that it really happened. The verses are witty, yet the shrieks of “Mon Dieu!” are laced with a feeling of childish terror. “La Reine du cœur” is a beautiful, languid melody that paints a picture of the mysterious Queen of Hearts, beckoning to visitors from her frosty castle, where she reigns over a court of lovers, including the young dead. In “Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu...,” the child is chided “on all sides” about studying. The title of the song presents the French vowels, and the text contains words that make their plural with an “x” (“pou, chou, genou, hibou”). The formidable cat of the poem’s opening lines is none other than that tricky feline Puss-in-Boots! The entire song is a little tongue-twister, an exercise in diction and accuracy. “Les anges musiciens” are none other than the school children staying home on Thursday, the half-day school holiday in France in Poulenc’s time, practicing Mozart on their harps, just like good little angel musicians should do. “Le carafon” is a crazy little story of a carafe that longs for a baby carafe (carafon) just like the giraffe at the zoo, who has a girafon. This is a ridiculous rhyming game like those that children love to play. The text is full of whimsical characters: the carafe, a giraffe, a sorcerer astride a phonograph, Merlin, and finally, a carafon. “Lune d’Avril” is another lullaby, very slow and otherworldly, which serves as an epilogue. Bound together in a musical texture that features a syncopated pedal point, it is filled with enchanted images the child wishes to dream about: a land of joy, light, and flowers where all guns are silent. The ending leaves the listener suspended in a mood of unfinished magic. La Courte Paille is the last vocal music Poulenc composed. NOTES: Quoted in Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1977), 125. Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes mélodies, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 75. Ibid., 75. Ibid., 57. Bernac, 72. Poulenc, 67. The English translation of “Sanglots” has parentheses that delineate the “asides” so that both “poems” may be seen. These may be found in Pierre Bernac’s books Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, page 75, or The Interpretation of French Song, pages 284-85 Poulenc, 109. BACK TO TOP MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) The songs of Maurice Ravel represent a transition between the mature mélodies of Debussy and the vocal literature that followed, notably the songs of Les Six. Debussy dominated the French musical scene from the turn of the century until his death in 1918. It was Ravel who was regarded as the leading musical spokesman for France following World War I. He was a skillful craftsman and his songs have a sense of evenness of rhythmic structure and flow that call for scrupulous execution. The fusion of music and text into a logical whole was of utmost importance to him. He composed elegant and subtle mélodies, using classical phrase structure. His melodic phrases often tend toward modality. His songs range from those with a folk-like style to more to those that are more speech-like, and those that encompass a melodic romanticism. He was precise in his thought and his scoring, and scrupulous in his musical execution. His music encompassed some of the fascinating influences of the post-Wagnerian era. Ravel’s musical contributions were of utmost importance to this exciting and new era in French cultural history. He made notable contributions to musical literature for the piano, the French art song, opera, chamber music, orchestral literature, and the ballet. Sur l’herbe (1907) poem by Paul Verlaine (1833-1896) This mélodie is Ravel’s only setting of Verlaine. It has often been suggested that this poem was probably inspired by Watteau’s painting L’île enchantée. There is also a reference to a famous eighteenth-century dancer, Marie-Anne Cuppi, known as (La) Camargo, who was immortalized on canvas by the painter Nicolas Lancret. The scene is an outside gathering, elegant and artificial. A number of people are there, chief among them, a licentious abbé, slightly tipsy from a bit too much Cyprian wine. He exchanges a few disconnected gallantries with the ladies–innocent conversations on the surface, but sensuous in undertone. The conversation is disconnected; we do not know exactly who is speaking. Ravel shapes very flexible vocal phrases, in keeping with the abbé’s intoxicated state, underscored with graceful piano figures that evoke an eighteenth-century dance. In a letter to Jean-Aubrey, Ravel commented on “Sur l’herbe”: “In this piece, as in the Histoires naturelles, the impression must be given that one is almost not singing. A bit of preciosity is found there which is indicated moreover by the text and the music.” 1 Noël des jouets (1905) poem by the composer This is the only solo song for which Ravel wrote the text. It describes a Christmas manger scene, replete with the Virgin and Christ-child, animals, and angels. It embodies Ravel’s delight with tiny mechanical toys and figures, and his fascination with the unspoiled world of child-like experience. His genius for text painting is displayed in the delightful mélodie. The mechanical toys come to life in the piano figures. Ravel’s charming text creates the images around and over the crèche, with not a word wasted. Ravel commented that the music is “clear and plain, like the mechanical toys of the poem.” 2 This little song foreshadows other Ravel settings of make-believe, beginning with the song cycle Histoires naturelles and culminating with his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The music of menacing dog Belzébuth foreshadows the music of the Beast in the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère lOye). Rêves (1927) poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) The poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue has been described as reflecting the union of dream and memory. This mélodie has a tender lyricism within a sparse musical texture. The text is fashioned of a series of miniature images that pass by rather quickly, unrelated, like the images found in dreams. For all their differences, they have a simplicity about them that seems timeless, existing together, as the poet says, “in a vague countryside.” When the dreamer finally awakens, the little fleeting pictures “die quietly.” The piano postlude perpetuates the dream state, creating an ethereal little microcosm that continues to draw the dreamer to it. Ronsard à son âme (1924) poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) In his Abrégé de l’art poétique français (1565) Pierre de Ronsard advocated the union of poetry and music, and Renaissance composers frequently set his poems. 3 In this strikingly simple mélodie, Ronsard speaks to his soul, calling it by a series of diminutives: little soul, dainty little one, sweet little one. Ravel uses a series of parallel fifths in the piano figures to invoke a Renaissance mood. This is Ronsard’s last poem, and Ravel’s last adaptation of Renaissance poetry. Ravel’s setting recalls the elegance of his early mélodie, “D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige,” to a poem of Clément Marot. Manteau de fleurs (1903) poem by Paul Barthélemy Jeulin (1863-1936) The poem notes everything in the garden that is pink–all the flowers that will become a beautiful cloak to complement the beauty of the lady of the poem. Ravel usually had very sophisticated taste in choosing texts; this particular poem is an unusual choice. It is a simple text, somewhat banal, but Ravel’s shimmering musical texture imparts a dramatic character for each flower in the poem. The overall piano texture suggests orchestral colors. The last section of the mélodie changes course slightly, with the piano harmonies creating a slightly wistful mood. Clearly, Ravel lavished a beautiful musical setting on a rather ordinary set of words. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) [Medium/Low Voice edition only] poems by Paul Morand (1888-1976) This miniature cycle was Ravel’s last vocal work. His musical portrait of the noble Spanish knight, Don Quixote, is embodied in three mélodies, all based on characteristic Spanish or Basque dance rhythms: (1) the guajira, alternating 6/8 and 3/4 meter; (2) the zorzica, a Basque dance in quintuple meter; and (3) the jota, a lively triple-metered Spanish dance. “Chanson Romanesque” presents the chivalrous idealist Don Quixote, confidently promising to rearrange everything in nature to his lady Dulcinea’s liking in order to win her favor. Dulcinea is in reality a poor farm girl, but the Don’s illusion will not be shaken. He remains authoritative and focused in his quest for her love. “Chanson épique” is Quixote’s reverent prayer to Saint Michael and Saint George, beseeching them to bless his sword and his Lady. Ravel creates a beautifully sustained and prayerful vocal line over a simple accompaniment. “Chanson à boire” is a exuberant drinking song. Although the Don’s tippling has made him overly boisterous, he never oversteps the bounds of his noble bearing. His robust laughter is heard in the piano figures and even a hiccup intrudes between “lorsque j’ai” and “lorsque j’ai bu.” NOTES: Maurice Ravel, in a letter to Jean-Aubrey written in September, 1907. Quoted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), 165-66. Quoted in Orenstein, 161. Orenstein, 192. BACK TO TOP ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937) In 1894 Albert Roussel left a highly successful career as a naval officer to pursue music. After completing his studies, he became professor of counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Satie and Varèse were among his students. Roussel was one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. He composed almost forty mélodies as well as chamber music, ballets, and operas. His style is eclectic but highly individual. Early works show the influence of Vincent d’Indy, works dating from 1910 to 1920 exhibit influences of Debussy and Ravel, but he turned to neoclassicism in his later compositions. His love for the sea was almost a spiritual attraction and continued to influence his music throughout his career. He had a fascination for distant places; his extended tour of Southeast Asia in 1909 had a tremendous influence on his composition. “Sarabande” and “Cœur en peril” are mélodies to texts of René Chalupt, a close friend. They are found in op. 20 and 50, respectively. Roussel’s overall musical catalogue is not extensive, but its quality is of an extremely high level, and his vocal writing in particular contains some mélodies of great delicacy and style, squarely in the French tradition. For Roussel, the word held primacy in his mélodies, being both transformed by its musical setting and merging with it to create a perfect union. Commenting on the quality of Roussel’s songs, composer Charles Koechlin is quoted as saying: “The sense of austerity pervading them, stemming simply from the composer’s natural reserve, heightens their expressiveness and further embellishes them; in language and content they are absolutely personal. This collection of songs is one which will last because its essence is undying sensitivity.” 1 Sarabande (1919) from Deux mélodies, Op. 20, No. 2 poem by René Chalupt This is surely one of Roussel’s most delicate and magical creations. His writing for the piano is particularly outstanding, placing Chalupt’s poem in an overall texture of elegance and veiled sensuality. There is an Oriental delicacy in Roussel’s musical evocation of the fluttering doves, feathers drifting into a pool, and the gentle drift of chestnut blossoms onto bare flesh. Cœur en péril (1933-34) from Deux mélodies, Op. 50, No. 1 poem by René Chalupt This mélodie is much different in mood–witty and flirtatious. It is the narrative of a young man eager to convince his ladylove of his fidelity. Vocal phrases are tuneful, with a spirited piano texture of Iberian flavor. NOTES: Liner notes, Dom Angelico Surchamp, trans. Elisabeth Carroll, Roussel Mélodies, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Mady Mesplé, Kurt Ollmann, José Van Dam; Dalton Baldwin, Patrick Gallois. EMI Digital. CDS 7492712, 1987 BACK TO TOP ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) Erik Satie wrote very few songs and most of them date from late in his life. The eccentric father figure of the French avant-garde of the twentieth century had a wildly independent spirit that found its way into his musical compositions. Throughout his life, he kept a great deal of childlike inquisitiveness and innocence. He was a curious personality of unconventional habits whose sense of the absurd and whimsy permeated both his life and his music. Quintessential Satie compositions are laconic and witty. It was Satie who named Les Nouveaux Jeunes, soon known as Les Six, and influenced the early development of the group. La Statue de bronze (1916) from Trois Mélodies poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) This is Satie’s first setting of the poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue, the “Bohemian poet of Paris.” Satie used Fargue’s witty verses again for Ludions. The scene is a garden game–the jeu de tonneau. A bronze frog, perched atop a cabinet with numbered chambers, grows impatient of being the target of the game where metal disks are tossed into her mouth. She dreams of being freed from her pedestal and being able to use her wide-open mouth to utter “LE MOT.” 1 She wants to be free to join the other frogs gathered near the rust-colored washhouse “blowing musical bubbles from the soapy moonlight.” But the game continues, the disks rattle through her mouth into numbered compartments and at night, insects sleep in her mouth. This mélodie can be linked musically to “La Grenouille américaine,” found in Ludions. Both songs share piano figures derived from the café-concert chanson. Ludions (1923) poems by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) Ludions is the last of Satie’s purely vocal works, composed two years before his death, and is perhaps his finest set of songs. It epitomizes his lifelong quest for musical simplicity and his irreverence for the intricate compositional techniques and overactive emotions of the Impressionists. Ludions is translated as “bottle imps” (a ludion is a little figure suspended in a hollow ball, which descends or rises in a vase filled with water when one presses down on the elastic membrane covering the mouth of the vase). The cycle is a kaleidoscopic set of musical miniatures, riddled with puns and illogical phrases. Fargue’s nonsensical verse complements Satie’s musical aesthetic, and the two friends’ personalities closely matched one another. All the mélodies in Ludions are short, like tiny cameos. They are colorful, saucy, fantastic, and defy translation. “Air du rat,” “La Grenouille américaine,” and “Chanson du chat” are right out of the music hall, and Satie uses with a mock-serious “tongue-in-cheek” treatment for “Spleen” and “Air du poète.” Je te veux (1902) poem by Henry Pacory (1873-?) The valse chantée, or sung waltz was a favorite of the café concerts, for which Satie composed a number of works. Café concerts were a form of Parisian popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The all-musical programs were held outside; French popular singers presented repertoire that catered to lower and middle-class audiences who came to talk, eat, drink, and observe the long informal programs, for which there was no admission charge. “Je te veux” was composed for Paulette Darty, dubbed “the Queen of the slow waltz.” It was one of her signature musical presentations for the caf’conc (café concerts), and one that Darty remained associated with throughout her career. A statuesque blonde with an ample figure, Darty was a commanding performer who kept the most boisterous of the Saturday night audiences enthralled. Lyricist Henry Pacory’s rather explicit poem was watered down at Satie’s request before the song was published. La Diva de l’Empire (1904) poem by Charles Bessat, named Numa Blès (1871-1917) The “Diva de l’Empire,” 2 one of Satie’s café-concert songs, was another work written for and performed by Paulette Darty. It was composed for a Bonnaud-Blès music-hall revue called Dévidons la Bobine (Let’s Unwind the Bobbin) that toured several seaside resort towns. The British “diva” is a femme fatale performer who enchants all who see her. The song is a syncopated cakewalk describing her seductive beauty as she struts her stuff “showing the wiggling of her legs and some pretty frilly underwear.” Interspersed at points along the way with English words: Greenaway, baby, little girl, etc. The piano provides a jaunty ragtime rhythm throughout that melds perfectly with the suggestive text. NOTES: ”Le mot” has a double meaning. It was the title of a broadsheet published by Jean Cocteau between 1914-15 and is short for “le mot de Cambronne,” a polite way of saying “merde.” Cambronne was a famous French general who replied “Merde!” when asked to surrender. In Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 43. Empire refers to the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, London. BACK TO TOP DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC (1872-1921) Déodat de Séverac, of aristocratic lineage, was born in the Languedoc region of southwest France in Saint-Félix-Caraman (now Saint-Félix Lauragais), near Toulouse. After studies in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, he returned home and remained there. He was a contemporary of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, but was considered a petit maître in their company, possibly because of his return to Languedoc at the completion of his musical studies. Séverac composed piano and orchestral music, operas and songs. The culture of his native Languedoc figured prominently in his music, which is highly descriptive. He often wrote parts for regional folk music in his scores. Many considered him provincial and unsophisticated, but his music displays his skill in integrating folk elements–and often, regional folk instruments–of his native Languedoc into his works. He often referred to himself as “the peasant musician.” Influences of Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Bizet may be found in his mélodies. Although his music is rather conservative in style, Séverac fused folk elements with the musical styles of the day in a unique and individual manner. Ma poupée chérie (1914) poem by the composer Composed in 1914 (and published in 1916) for his daughter Magali and dedicated to her, this little cradlesong is probably de Séverac’s best loved and most performed mélodie. Séverac’s fresh musical setting contains just the right combination of simplicity and delightful childlike honesty. Despite the subject matter, the composer’s heartfelt poem avoids an overly cloying atmosphere. BACK TO TOP OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED: Jane Bathori, On the Interpretation of the Mélodies of Claude Debussy, transl. and with an introduction by Linda Laurent (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998). Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, transl. by Winifred Radford (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977). Pierre Bernac, The Interpretation of French Song, transl. by Winifred Radford(New York: W.W. Norton, 1978). Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870-1925 (New York: George Braziller, 1987). Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001) Alan M. Gillmor, Erik Satie (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992). James Harding, The Ox on the Roof: Scenes from musical life in Paris in the Twenties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986). Peter Hill, ed., The Messiaen Companion (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995). Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2009) Graham Johnson and Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2005). Carol Kimball and Richard Walters, eds., The French Song Anthology (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2001). Timothy LeVan, Masters of the French Art Song (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991). Barbara Meister, Nineteenth-Century French Song (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980). Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975). Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment in the Circle of Erik Satie(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) Caroline Potter, Henri Dutilleux: His Life and Works (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997). Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis: Confidences recueilles par Stéphane Audel (Paris: La Palatine, 1963). Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs [Journal de mes mélodies] transl. by Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1985) Marie-Claire Rohinsky, ed., The Singer’s Debussy (New York: Pelion Press, 1987) Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Vintage Books, 1968).