12. Quatre mélodies françaises

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Quatre mélodies françaises. (Four Songs in French)

Based on three poems written in French by the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), together with Sanctus, a poem by Paul-Marie Verlaine (1844-1896), make up this cycle.
Narcís Bonet was a fluent speaker and writer in French. He studied it at a very young age and further developed and enriched his use of the language through reading and the periods he spent studying in Paris with Nadia Boulanger from the age of sixteen onward. He always paid close attention to the sound of the words and had a special sensitivity for the language, different from that of native speakers. Rilke also shared this interest for the sound of the language and its words, and Narcís admired and was inspired by the brevity of these small poetic visions.
Narcís presented me with the song Ce soir mon coeur (Tonight My Heart) to celebrate my name day on 18 August 1993. For reasons of tonality and balance it is the first piece in the cycle although it was the last one to be completed.
The second song, La dormeuse (The Sleeper) written in 1989 is simply dedicated “to Hélène” as it was composed before we were married. It inspired me to produce a sculpture with the same name as a gift for my future husband.
The third song, Petite cascade (Small Waterfall), dedicated “to Hélène, my wife”, was the inspiration for a further three sculptures.

Sanctus was composed for a Verlaine poem, at the request of Arnaud and Sandrine Limal for the baptism of their child, Séverin, in Notre-Dame cathedral in 1995. I sang the piece with my husband, Narcís Bonet, accompanying me on the organ.

Hélène Bonet-Giraudier