Poèmes sylvestres

This set of ‘woodland poems’, published by Heugel in 1893, was premiered on 19 April of the same year by its dedicatee Clotilde Kleeberg (1866-1909), the future creator of Dubois’s Piano Concerto no.2. Le Ménéstrel praised both work and pianist: ‘These Poems are charming, and two in particular are exquisite: “The Myrtles” and “The Enchanted Fountain”, which one might indeed call enchanting and which was encored. Both were performed by M^lle Kleeberg with all her customary grace, finesse and poetry. But it would be remiss of me not to mention the others too: “The Solitary Path”, so calm and tranquil; “The Woodcutters”, with its heavy, lumbering, curious gait; “Rustic Dance”, so characteristic and original. The audience acclaimed the artist and called for the composer, who modestly eluded this ovation.’ Though some of the pieces are accessible to amateurs with a certain technical proficiency (‘L’allée solitaire’, ‘Le banc de mousse’), they really ‘sound’ only under the fingers of a pianist who masters the art of cantabile. ‘Les myrtilles’ and ‘Les bûcherons’ call for experienced pianists, while the level of difficulty increases still further in ‘La source enchantée’ and ‘Danse rustique’. The frequency with which the Poèmes sylvestres appeared in the recitals of Clotilde Kleeberg and many other performers (who generally preferred to select a few pieces rather than play the score as a whole) testify to their success. Dubois continued in this bucolic vein, far from the tormented Nature of Romantic artists, in the six Poèmes virgiliens (1898) and the six Poèmes alpestres (1910).