Gabriel Dupont (1878-1914)
The Complete Songs
Cyrille Dubois (tenor)
Tristan Raës (piano)
rec. 2023, Conservatoire et Orchestre de Caen, France
Texts & English translations included
Aparté AP377 [80]
I first became aware of the partnership of Cyrille Dubois and Tristan Raës a few months ago when I bought their disc of songs by Louis Beydts (AP345). That wasn’t the first disc of French song that they’d recorded for Aparte; an earlier album of songs by Nadia and Lili Boulanger was admired by Michael Cookson (review) and they’ve also recorded the complete songs of Gabriel Fauré (AP284). I found the album of songs by Beydts (1895-1953) was very interesting – and excellently performed – so I was keen to explore another album of songs by a French composer who, like Beydts, was previously unknown to me.
Since the name and music of Gabriel Dupont may be as unfamiliar to some of our readers, as it was to me, it may be helpful to summarise some biographical information, for which I’m indebted to the very valuable booklet essay by Étienne Jardin. Dupont was born in the city of Caen in Normandy. His father had moved to Caen to become organist at the church of Saint-Pierre; from 1880 he was in charge of the music theory and organ classes at the city’s Conservatoire. (How fitting that this recording should have been made in the Caen Conservatoire!) Initially schooled in music by his father, Gabriel moved to Paris in 1893. He studied at the Conservatoire there, where his tutors included, at various times, Vierne and Widor. He left the Conservatoire in 1904, three years after his father’s death had obliged him to seek employment as an organist. It’s not clear from Jardin’s essay but I presume he remained in Paris; there’s no reference to relocation elsewhere. In 1903 Dupont contracted tuberculosis, the disease which was to kill him in 1914 at the age of just thirty-six. It seems that he composed in a variety of genres; his output included two operas, piano music, at least one orchestral work and a piano quintet. I think Étienne Jardin makes an important point when he references the fact that Dupont died on 2 August 1914, just when France – and the rest of Europe – was on the cusp of war. Consequently, his passing went almost unremarked in the press. Furthermore, as Jardin says, “the Great War was to change everything, even the fine aesthetic ideals of the Belle Époque. It closed the door definitively on the nineteenth century – a break with the past that did nothing to favour Gabriel Dupont’s posthumous reputation; and indeed, in France during the decade of the 1920s, the Années folles; few people cared to remember him.”
In all, Dupont left thirty-one songs, which Cyrille Dubois and Tristan Raës perform for us on this CD. In a prefatory booklet note they say that this is not the first complete recording of these songs. I did a bit of research and discovered that Charlotte de Rothschild and Adrian Farmer included Poèmes d’automne on a Nimbus disc (NI5998). There’s also a Centaur disc on which soprano Rachel Joselson and pianist Bo Ties perform what look like a complete survey (CRC3811). I’ve also spotted some of Dupont’s individual songs on mixed recital discs. It may well be, though, that this is the first complete survey by a male voice. In any case, to the best of my recollection, all the songs were new to me.
As will be seen from the contents list at the foot of this review, the composition dates span a fairly short number of years: we get to hear Dupont’s first two songs, which date from 1895, while most of the rest were composed between 1901 and 1910, though there are a couple of outliers from 1912. Dubois and Raës cite Debussy as “the most obvious detectable influence” and they also reference Fauré and Widor. They add: “As for his vocal writing, it varies between a simple line, typical of the French mélodie, and a lyricism recalling the legacy of Massenet”. From these remarks you might well infer, rightly, that Gabriel Dupont’s songs sit very firmly in the tradition of late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century French song. To the expert comments of Dubois and Raës I’d just add my own, much less expert observation that many of Dupont’s choices of texts and his musical response to them tap a strain of melancholy.
The two earliest songs, the Deux mélodies (1895) demonstrate what I might term – in the context of the songs to follow – early promise. Both set poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), who supplied several of the texts set by Dupont in the course of this programme. ‘La Pluie’ is a fluent composition but I’m even more taken with ‘Chanson d’automne’. Here, Dupont’s plaintive vocal line and an overall gentle melancholy are most appealing. Six years later, in Le Foyer (1901) another poem by Verlaine, Dupont offers an easy, lilting melody in another setting of gentle melancholy. This is the first item on the programme and it serves notice that the plangent, light voice of Cyrille Dubois will be well suited to these songs.
Also from 1901 is Le Jour des morts. The poem is by Georges Vanor; this, I believe, is a pseudonym used by Georges Richard van Ormelingen (1865 – 1906). The poem is a sorrowful, bitter expression concerning death and the departed which Dupont set with no little feeling. Dubois sings the song most expressively. Vanor is also the author of Monsieur Destin. This is a rather unusual text about the dark, even sinister side of the fairground carousel. The song is strong and quite dramatic and the ring in Dubois’s voice helps him to characterise the song most effectively. Meanwhile, the piano’s galloping rhythms remind us of the steeds on the carousel.
I very much like Le Jardin mouillé from 1906. This is a setting of a poem by Henri de Régnier (1864-1936). Dupont’s song presents a very intimate, introspective view of a rainy scene. One of the Deux mélodies (1909) is ‘Pieusement’, a setting of a frankly overwrought poem by Émile Verhaeren (1855-1916). Dupont’s musical response is impassioned and Cyrille Dubois rightly sings it in that fashion. In complete contrast, ‘Les Caresses’, one of the Deux mélodies (1908), is a delicate, tender little love song to words by Jean Richepin (1849-1926). This charmingly innocent song is beautifully performed by Dubois and Raës. They’re equally successful in Crépuscule d’été, one of Dupont’s last two songs, both of which date from 1912. Here, poetry by Cécile Périn (1877-1959) is the basis for a lovely song in which, as so often in this programme, the French language flows beautifully on Dupont’s melodic line.
At the end of the disc, we hear Poèmes d’automne (1904). In his notes, Étienne Jardin refers to these eight songs as both a collection and a cycle. I’m not entirely sure the latter description fits because, other than a general air of autumnal melancholy, there doesn’t seem to be a unifying theme around the words – and each of the songs sets words by a different poet. Furthermore, so far as I’ve been able to detect through listening, I don’t think there’s any kind of musical thematic unity. That said, the eight songs are very appealing. I was drawn to ‘Ophélia’, a setting of poetry by Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891). Here, there’s a flowing lightness in both the vocal line and the piano part; this serves the poem very well. ‘La Neige’ is a Verlaine setting. The music is very attractive and fluent, though in the penultimate verse, where the poet speaks of “wheezy crows” bitterness takes over from melancholy. ‘Douceur du soir!’ takes words by Georges Rodenbach (1855-1898). The poem is an inward-looking comparison of twilight with a good death. Dupont’s setting is dignified and thoughtful. The collection – and the disc – closes with ‘Sur le vieux banc’ in which the words are furnished by Léon Dierx (1838-1912. In my notes I’ve written a single phrase: ‘Lovely stream of melody’; to be honest, that description could apply to any of the thirty-one songs on this disc.
I’ve found it a rewarding and enjoyable experience to become acquainted with Gabriel Dupont’s songs. I think any lover of French art-songs will respond positively to them, especially given the quality of the advocacy they receive from Cyrille Dubois and Tristan Raës. As I’ve already indicated, Dubois’s flexible, expressive voice seems ideally suited to Dupont’s melodic lines. Raës makes an impeccable contribution at the piano. They’ve been expertly recorded by the Aparte engineers. The documentation is excellent. Étienne Jardin’s essay offers an ideal introduction both to Gabriel Dupont and to these songs. The booklet also includes all the texts together with English translations, most of which are by Richard Stokes.
This excellent album is one which all admirers of French songs should investigate.
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Contents
Le Foyer (1901)
Deux mélodies (1908)
Les Caresses
Chanson des noisettes
À la nuit (1902)
Deux mélodies d’Alfred de Musset (1910)
Chanson
Sérénade à Ninon
Le Jour des morts (1901)
Monsieur Destin (1901)
Les Caresses (1908)
La Rencontre
Le Baiser
Le Jardin mouillé (1906)
Deux mélodies (1909)
Pieusement
Ô triste, triste…
Deux mélodies (1895)
La Pluie
Chanson d’automne
Chanson des six petits oiseaux (1912)
En aimant (1903)
Crépuscule d’été (1912)
Annie (1902)
Journée d’hiver (1905)
Chanson de Myrrha (1902)
Les Effarés (1903)
Mandoline (1901)
Poèmes d’automne (1904)
Si j’ai aimé
Ophélia
Au temps de la mort des marjolaines
La Fontaine de pitié
La Neige
Le Silence de l’eau
Douceur du soir!
Sur le vieux banc
