Trois Vieilles Chansons

These Trois Vieilles Chansons composed in 1921, several months before Saint-Saëns’ death, were the composer’s farewell to the French art song. He chose poems by Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465), Rémy Belleau (1528-1577) and Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye (ca. 1536-1607). Previously, he had already composed settings of Ronsard (a contemporary of Belleau and La Fresnaye), Boileau and La Fontaine. Despite turning his attention one last time towards the Renaissance, he avoided stylising its modal colours and principles of composition, even for the poem by Charles d’Orléans (“Le temps a laissé son manteau”, which also tempted Godard, Koechlin, Debussy, Déodat de Séverac, as well as Bourgault-Ducoudray). The only reference to bygone days is the lightness and transparency of the piano (subtle textures, delicate runs, infrequent use of the lower register), and the simplicity of the vocal line, even if Avril ends more boldly on an expressive high A. The coherence of the compositional devices helps make the score a genuine song cycle, an impression heightened by the tonal framework (G major for Temps nouveau and Villanelle, A major for Avril). Furthermore, the return of spring becomes more apparent with each poem: Temps nouveau uses contrast to emphasise the end of winter, Avril celebrates the beauty of nature and Villanelle that of the village girls in an atmosphere created by the popular round dance (piano drone). Not at all nostalgic in mood, Saint-Saëns’ final testament as a song composer is youthful in tone and full of heady emotion.