MAY

Happy May Day, everyone.

I’ve been pretty excited about the arrival of spring lately. It feels filled with extra symbolism these days as more and more of my loved ones are getting vaccinated, and the world seems to be re-emerging into some sort of new ‘normal’. I recently filmed a recital of songs about Springtime for a benefit for the Houston Grand Opera, which will air for certain of their donors later this month, and it turns out, the subject of Spring pops up quite frequently in song and poetry.

This particular song below by Reynaldo Hahn didn’t make the recital program in Houston, but it is one of my favorites. The speaker in François Coppée’s poem seems to be putting on a big show of wallowing in their heartbreak despite springtime’s joyous blooming, however Hahn’s music seems to betray a different truth. It’s pretty clear Hahn sees the melodrama of this person’s malaise, musically implying that perhaps he’s not really so heartbroken after all. I have the sense that this forlorn lover will soon be on to their next romantic conquest before long…

Either way, entitled ‘May’, it seemed like a nice song to share on this first day of May in 2021. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks to pianist Ronny Michael Greenberg for joining me for this musical adventure, and a giant thank you to the Maybeck Studio for the Performing Arts in Berkeley, CA for hosting me and Ronny in their incredible space for this video.

REYNALDO HAHN: Mai with Ronny Michael Greenberg, piano

MAI

Depuis un mois, chère exilée,

Loin de mes yeux tu t'en allas,

Et j'ai vu fleurir des lilas

Avec ma peine inconsolée.

Seul, je fuis ce ciel clair et beau

Dont l'ardent effluve me trouble,

Car l'horreur de l'exil se double

De la splendeur du renouveau.

En vain le soleil a souri,

Au printemps je ferme ma porte,

Et veux seulement qu'on m'apporte

Un rameau de lilas fleuri;

Car l'amour dont mon âme est pleine

Y trouve, parmi ses douleurs

Ton regard dans ces chères fleurs

Et dans leur parfum ton haleine.

– François Coppée

MAY

It is a month, dear exile,

Since you vanished from my gaze,

And I have watched the lilacs bloom

With my sorrow unassuaged.

Alone, I avoid these lovely clear skies,

Whose blazing rays disquiet me,

For an exile’s dread increases

With the splendour of nature’s renewal.

In vain the sun has smiled;

I close my door to the spring,

And wish only to be brought

A lilac branch in bloom!

For Love, which fills my heart to overflowing,

Finds among its sorrows

Your gaze in the midst of those dear flowers,

And in their fragrance your sweet breath!

Translation source: https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/3342

Cover image: Woman with a Parasol, Madame Monet and Her Son (1875); Claude Monet