Ariettes oubliées

1885–⁠87 · Voice and piano; poems by Verlaine

Six Verlaine songs. In Il pleure dans mon cœur, following the poet’s image of rain falling on the town, the piano keeps up a steady patter beneath the voice.

2 min

Recording

II. Il pleure dans mon cœurMary Garden, soprano; Claude Debussy, piano · 1904, Paris
2:12
“Il pleure dans mon cœur” is the second of Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées, a setting of Verlaine. Mary Garden sings it with Debussy at the piano, in a recording made in Paris in 1904.
Listening notes · joins
1. Piano semiquavers and vocal line
  The piano plays running semiquavers beneath the song. Over them the voice moves in longer notes, marked triste et monotone (sad and monotonous).
2. Verlaine’s poem, 1874
  Verlaine’s rain falls on the roofs and the ground, and the speaker grieves without knowing why. There is no betrayal, and neither love nor hatred accounts for the pain. The poem appeared in Romances sans paroles in 1874, and in Debussy’s setting the vocal phrases recur.
3. Return of the opening tempo
  After the freer question about betrayal, marked Modéré, the piano’s running notes return at 1° Tempo. The final stanza names the worst pain as not knowing why the heart aches. The voice slows at Molto rallentando and ends, and the piano continues alone in a postlude.
Joins
1. The semiquavers stop for the voice
  The piano’s running semiquavers stop. Debussy cancels the four-sharp key signature and marks the passage Modéré. The voice moves freely over chords and a short piano reply, and the score marks it ad libitum. At this point the poem asks whether betrayal explains the grief, in the question beginning Quoi! nulle trahison? (printed score, pp. 15–⁠16).
2. Semiquavers return for the last stanza
  The piano resumes its semiquavers while the voice holds the end of the word raison. Revenez au 1er Mouvement restores the opening tempo, and the four-sharp signature returns with the final stanza. The voice again sustains long notes above the semiquaver figure in the piano.
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