Boulanger, Lili : D'un jardin clair
Work Overview
Publication Year:1919
First Publisher:Ricordi
Instrumentation:Piano Solo
Genre:Various works
Copyright:Public Domain
Commentary (2)
Author : Hirano, Takatoshi
Last Updated: May 19, 2015
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Author : Hirano, Takatoshi
D'un jardin clair (From a Bright Garden)
Composition: June 15-18, 1914, completed on the 19th, Villa Medici (Rome)
Publication: Ricordi, Paris, 1919
Dedication: Ninette Sar
This is one of the piano pieces completed at Villa Medici. The manuscript is titled "Pièce pour piano No. 4," which likely refers to the fourth piano piece Boulanger composed at Villa Medici. The title "D'un jardin clair" (From a Bright Garden) was given when it was published by Ricordi. Given that there are almost no revisions between the sketch and the fair copy, it appears to have been written quickly in a short period. Although the manuscript contains dynamic markings and other instructions, slurs are not indicated. Staccato markings are also absent except for measures 54-56; however, the staccato marks in measures 54-56 are written in pencil, suggesting they were added later. Furthermore, measure 23 in the manuscript is omitted from the Ricordi edition for unknown reasons. On December 15, 1913, Boulanger, who attended a concert held at the home of Ninette Sar, the dedicatee of this work, played excerpts from her own cantata Faust et Hélène, which had won the Prix de Rome that same year.
After the light and short two-measure opening motif is repeated several times, chordal elements develop, and the opening motif returns with increased textural density. Subsequently, the tempo slightly decreases, and as the motif and chordal elements alternate, the music fades away as if receding. As with D'un jardin clair, close attention should be paid to the dynamic and tempo markings indicated in the score. Particular care should be taken to bring out the contrast between slow and fast sections.
This commentary is a revised version for the PTNA Piano Encyclopedia, originally published in "Lili Boulanger Piano Works (edited by Takatoshi Hirano, Kawai Publishing, 2015)."
Author : Sato, Yuko
Last Updated: March 12, 2018
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Author : Sato, Yuko
It is said that Lili was a girl who sang constantly from the age of two and a half. Soon after, she sang songs at sight, and Fauré visited her home to accompany her singing. Her sister Nadia recounted that Lili sang lyrics as if she understood them, even though she should not have been able to at that age, and stated that this precocity of sensibility stemmed from the sorrow of her father's death, which she experienced at the age of six. As was the case with her sister, their mother Raïssa was the one who gave her her first musical instruction. She taught by memorizing a textbook on harmony. In 1910, when Lili, at the age of 17, decided to become a composer, Nadia began preparing her with all her knowledge, just as their father had done for her, and two years later, Lili entered the Paris Conservatoire. Remarkably, she won the Prix de Rome the very next year. Regarding her exceptional talent, Jacques Chailley stated that even genius composers who died young had not managed to write works like her three Psaumes at the tender age of 24. Lili temporarily suspended her studies at the former Medici villa, a reward for winning the Prix de Rome, for medical treatment and recuperation, but during her stay in Rome, she completed important works in a short period and also interacted with local musicians. In 1915, as World War I approached the country, she proactively went with her sister to provide musical comfort to soldiers. After Lili's death, her sister Nadia put down her pen, feeling powerless compared to Lili's extraordinary talent, and dedicated herself to education. While this was a wise decision to utilize her talent, both sisters were equally distinguished in their virtue and excellence. The family's bond, the depth of their affection, and their love for music and earnest pursuit of it evoke interest in the roots of their lineage, but ultimately, tracing back their origins leads to ancient Greece, the source of all things. In Europe, old castles and buildings of royalty and nobility still remain. Standing there, one falls into the illusion of having time-traveled to a distant era. While strolling with her sister Nadia in the garden of an old Roman villa, the sisters encountered an old woman cutting grass. The old woman smiled at them and said, "May you have a good day today!" Nadia recounted the memory, stating that it was a wonderful moment when, by that old woman's single remark, they felt that they were blessed by God. The setting for Vieux Jardin and Jardin Clair is that very garden. One senses Lili's youthful freshness, striving to live brightly and positively, even while faintly feeling the creeping footsteps of war and the darkness of death due to illness. Even amidst the reverberations created by the cumulative layering of harmonic sounds, the underlying structure remains unchanged, then as now, a testament to repeated trial and error. One perceives a spontaneous sublimity in Lili's music. Inheriting Impressionism, she further paid attention to the arrangement of sounds, and no rebellious spirit is felt within it. Is the third piece, Cortège, a procession for a "Bacchanal"? It is a festival for Bacchus, the ancient Greek god of wine and harvest. It is a work where one feels wit and humor in the movement of pentatonic sounds, conveying joy, and it is hard to believe that this was composed by someone undergoing recuperation who would die five years later. Could Lili have felt that she had fulfilled her sister Nadia's fervent wish? That she had repaid her kindness...?
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