As I mentioned previously, I've been working on translations of various French songs as I prepare for the last vocal jury of my college career. Several of these pieces were written by Henri Duparc, a French romantic, and a composer I simply adore for his ability to quietly mix both sadness and sublime love through the strange alchemy of music.

In my recent work, I came across a recording of one of my most beloved songs, his "Extase," and I'd like to share it. The mingling of the piano's sensual and mysterious timbre with the almost ethereal separation of the soprano voice never ceases to awe me. And the poetry-- the word choice, the sounds. The metaphor. I can't properly describe it. This is what peace sounds like to me. The most complete peace.

This piece is also very personal to me-- I performed it on my senior recital as I graduated from Baltimore School for the Arts. It has to be one of the most beautiful and understated art songs ever written. The vocalist here is Rosamund Illing, with David McSkimming on piano.

Extase

Sur un lys pâle mon coeur dort
D'un sommeil doux comme la mort
Mort exquise, mort parfumée
Du souffle de la bien-aimée

Sur ton sein pâle mon coeur dort
D'un sommeil doux comme la mort...

                 --Jean Lahor

My translation:

Ecstasy

On a pale lily, my heart sleeps
In a slumber as sweet as death
Exquisite death, death perfumed
By a lover's breath

On your pale chest, my heart sleeps
In a slumber as sweet as death...