Description
Based on my setting of Rimbaud’s mysterious (or possibly tongue-in-cheek) synaesthetic poem “Voyelles”, originally written for men’s voices with two alto soloists.
The top two instruments are the soloists here and the others provide the accompaniment.
In the poem each vowel is allocated a colour and a strange vision, which are reflected in the music.
Original poem, with my English version:
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu: voyelles,
A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels
Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes:
One day I shall explain your hidden births
A, noir corset velu des mouches éclatantes
Qui bombinent autour des puanteurs cruelles,
Golfes d`ombre;
(A, hairy corset of sparkling flies
buzzing around cruel stenches
Shadowy gulfs)
E, candeurs des vapeurs et des tentes,
Lances des glaciers, rois blancs, frissons d`ombelles;
(E, whiteness of mists and tents
Lances of glaciers, white kings, quivering umbels)
I, pourpre, sang craché, rire des lèvres belles
Dans la colère ou les ivresses pénitentes;
(I, purple, spat blood, laughter of pretty lips
In anger or penitent drunkenness)
U, cycles, vibrements divins des mers virides,
Paix des pâtis semés d`animaux,
Paix des rides que l`alchimie imprime aux grands fronts studieux;
(U, cycles, divine quivering of the green seas
Peace of pastures scattered with animals
Peace of the wrinkles printed by alchemy upon the wide foreheads of scholars)
O, suprême clairon plein des strideurs étranges,
Silences traversés des Mondes et des Anges:
(O, the last bugle with strange fulsome strident tones
Silences through which worlds and angels pass)
– O, l`Oméga, rayon violet de Ses Yeux!
(O is Omega, the violet beam of His eyes)