70

Vieille Chanson

[musical score]
71 bars
voice and piano

Poem: Charles-Hubert Millevoye (1782–1816), La Fauvette in Poésies Légères. Œuvres complètes, 3e éd., 1827, tome I, p. 282–83. The poem is not called Vieille Chanson.

Dans les bois l’amoureux Myrtil
Avait pris Fauvette légère :
« Aimable oiseau, lui disait-il,
Je te destine à ma bergère.
Pour prix du don que j’aurais fait,
Que de baisers !... Si ma Lucette
M’en donne deux pour un bouquet,
J’en aurai dix pour la Fauvette. »
La Fauvette dans le vallon
A laissé son ami fidèle,
Et fait tant que de sa prison
Elle s’échappe à tire-d’aile.
« Ah ! dit le berger désolé,
Adieu les baisers de Lucette !
Tout mon bonheur s’est envolé
Sur les ailes de la Fauvette. »
Myrtil retourne au bois voisin,
Pleurant la perte qu’il a faite ;
Soit par hasard, soit à dessein,
Dans le bois se trouvait Lucette :
Sensible à ce gage de foi,
Elle sortit de sa retraite,
En lui disant : « Console-toi,
Tu n’as perdu que la Fauvette. »

Composition: by 1865, for publication by Choudens. The autographs suggest it was originally presented as the work of a fictitious composer Alfred de Neufchâtel. Gaston de Betzi was Bizet’s occasional pseudonym (see Hymne à la paix).

Autograph scores:
1

S-Smf MMS 319. 30-stave paper, 257 x 338 mm., 2 f. (title page, 2 p. of music, blank)

2

Private collection. 30-stave paper, 2 f. (title page, 3 p. of music), marked for engraving.

The second line revised in another hand to Poésie de Millevoye Musique de Georges Bizet.

Printed scores:
1
pl. no.:

A.C. 1201(1) (lower key), A.C. 1201(2) (higher key)

pages:

title page, blank, music p. 1–5, Choudens advertisement

date:

1865

ann.:

Bibliographie de la France, 30-9-1865; Le Ménestrel, 17-12-1865; Choudens Catalogue, 1867.

note:

the lower key is F.

copies:

  • F-Pn L13768 (high key) (inscribed by Choudens)
  • F-Pn Vm7 32724 (high key) (dépôt légal 1865)
  • F-Pn K.59404 (high key)
  • F-Pn Ac m.2039 (high key)
  • E-Mn MP/3311/19 (high key)
  • GB-Lbl H.2476 (high key) (stamped 18-3-1867)
  • GB-Lcm (high key) (3 copies)
  • GB-NWm (low key) (3 copies)
  • GB-Ob Mus 5.c.B.63 (high key)
  • Lisa Cox Gallimaufry no. 11 (2004)

2

Choudens, as no. 3 in Vingt Mélodies, 1873, in two keys.

3

Choudens continued to issue the song as a single item from later addresses. GB-NWm (both keys).

4

Metzler, London, pl. no. M. 5698, 7 p., before 1881, in two keys. As In the Woods, in English (translated by Theo: Marzials) only. GB-Ob (low key), GB-Ep. Free public performance allowed.

5

Shaw, New York, 7 p., 1884. In English and French. US-PHci.

6

Sonzogno, Milan, pl. no. 7608-7609, 5 p., c. 1888, in two keys. As Vecchia canzone, in Italian. I-Mc.

7

Metzler, London, pl. no. M. 5709, 7 p., [1889], in two keys, as Vieille Chanson. In the Woods. In French and English (translated by Theo: Marzials). GB-Lbl, GB-Ob (high). Gives the name of Millevoye and restricts public performance.

8

Durdilly, as no. 553 in Série 23 of Édition française, c. 1890.

9

Hansen, Copenhagen, pl. no. 12380, 5 p., 1898. In French, Swedish, and Danish. D-B.

10

Schirmer, New York, pl. no. 13728, 5 p., 1898. In French and English (translated by George Osgood). US-BIRu, US-CHua, US-NYms.

11

Ditson, Boston, 7 p., 1902. As In the Woods (Vieille Chanson), in French and English (translated by Isabella G. Parker). US-Wc. IMSLP. M1621.B.

12

Schlesinger, Berlin, pl. no. 9373, 6 p., 1906, in two keys. As Altes Lied, in French and German (translated by Th. Rehbaum). D-B.

13

Rühle, Leipzig, c. 1906, in two keys. In French and German.

14

Peters, Leipzig, as no. 5 of Sechs Gesänge, 1914, in two keys. In French and German.

15

Schirmer, New York, in The Second Book of Soprano Solos, edited by Joan Frey Boytim, c. 1994.

16

Garland, New York, 1995, in Romantic French Song 1830–1870, edited by David Tunley, vol. 4, p. 121–27 (facsimile of Choudens 1865 edition).

Dedicatee:

Caroline Miolan-Carvalho (1827–95), leading soprano during the Second Empire and wife of Léon Carvalho, director of the Théâtre-Lyrique. In 1867 she created the role of Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Performance:
Discography:
Bibliography: