Castalia 356
La fille aux cheveux de lin
Dear Friends,
I’m so happy to share with you…
La fille aux cheveux de lin [The Girl With Flaxen Hair]
from Preludes, Book I
by Claude Debussy
Performed by Ishmael Wallace, pianist
As René Guénon reminds us1, not all is soap and water; the end of a world can only be the end of an illusion. The great bubble bursts, but not all goes pop; the girl with flaxen hair does not.
The Girl With Flaxen Hair
from Scottish Songs
Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818 — 1894)
Who sings in the clear morning air
Amid the flowering lucerne?
It is the girl with flaxen hair,
It is the girl with cherry lips.
In the clear sun of summer, Love
Has joined in carol with the lark.
Dear girl, long-lashed, with little curls,
Shall we stroll in the purple blooms?
The tender colors of your mouth
Tell me of heaven, dearest one!
In the clear sun of summer, Love
Has joined in carol with the lark.
Oh, cruel girl, don’t say no! But then,
Do not say yes. Just let me rest
In those great eyes, in that long gaze,
Beholding that dear mouth of rose.
No more of chasing deer, no more
Of hares and russet partridges!
I long to kiss your flaxen hair,
To press the purple of your lips!
In the clear sun of summer, Love
Has joined in carol with the lark.
(translation by IW; please scroll to the end for the original French)
This gaze remains; “… thy eternal summer shall not fade…”2
A note on the music:
More than thirty years ago now, a classmate told me, “Music must have direction — unless it is Debussy”. Debussy too has direction — every note a wayfarer, every note part of an overarching story. But in telling the story, he is not in any hurry; he prefers, in fact, to draw it out. The more drawn out a story, the greater its power of evocation.
If I am thirsty, for example, and the one I love gives me something to drink, do I notice the constellation we form? Or is this awareness consumed in the quenching of thirst? Should the goblet tremble, on the other hand…3
Here, the music develops a theme utterly traditional — one we find often, for example, in Scottish song. But what would normally be:
becomes, in Debussy’s telling:
Through the octave displacement of E flat, this note has become transparent; we begin to sense something stands behind it…
Thank you so much for listening, and for your support!
With every good wish,
Ishmael
Coaching for musicians: I help performers and composers find deeper meaning in their work through insight from music theory. For details and testimonials, please see my website!
La fille aux cheveux de lin
from Chansons Écosaisses
Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818 — 1894)
Sur la luzerne en fleur assise,
Qui chante dès le frais matin?
C’est la fille aux cheveux de lin,
La belle aux lèvres de cerise.
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
Ta bouche a des couleurs divines,
Ma chère, et tente le baiser!
Sur l’herbe en fleur veux-tu causer,
Fille aux cils longs, aux boucles fines?
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
Ne dis pas non, fille cruelle!
Ne dis pas oui! J’entendrai mieux
Le long regard de tes grands yeux
Et ta lèvre rose, ô ma belle!
Adieu les daims, adieu les lièvres
Et les rouges perdrix! Je veux
Baiser le lin de tes cheveux,
Presser la pourpre de tes lèvres!
L’amour, au clair soleil d’été,
Avec l’alouette a chanté.
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, chapter 40.
The image is from a poem by von Hofmannsthal, Die Beiden.