Remembrances of half-forgotten dead people
These three songs for high voice & piano take their texts from the 1911 edition
of the Petit Larousse Illustré. These have been set as they appear
in the dictionary (with certain minor changes to preserve clarity of meaning),
and were chosen for the different ways in which time has treated the subjects
of the entries:
I. Lament: Louis-César-Joseph Ducornet (1806-1856). French painter. 'Born without arms, he painted with his feet'. Ducornet has by now been almost totally forgotten, to the extent that his name does not even appear in modern 20-volume encyclopaediae.
II. Funeral march: Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896). French composer. Extremely popular during his lifetime, his works are not often performed any more (to the best of my knowledge), even though his name is known.
III.Elegy: Marie de Flavigny, Comtesse d'Agoult (1805-1976). French writer. Quite well known during her lifetime, she wrote under the nom de plume Daniel Stern. She is best known now as Liszt's mistress.