I wrote this melody for choir and piano in 2006 on the poem by Charles Baudelaire.
It is somewhat of an exception, as all my other vocal works are based on sacred texts.
It was premiered by the choir Figure humaine, founded and directed by my good friend Denis Rouger, who was for many years the choirmaster of the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris, before going on to teach choral conducting at the Hochschule in Stuttgart. We
therefore worked together for a long time at Notre-Dame Cathedral, and those years spent working with this great musician are dear to my heart.
Denis Rouger himself has written many beautiful transcriptions for choir of French art songs, and it is this magnificent work that led me to compose this piece.
Yves Castagnet
Versions
This work is available in two versions :
- the original composition for choir and piano ;
- the composition orchestrated by Maurice Hooikammer (the choir part is identical and is not included in the material).
Sound samples
All available forms
