No-one knows where Berlioz got the title, Les Nuits d’été, from; it’s certainly not mentioned in any of the Gautier poems that he set (in fact the only season referred to is in the first song, the Villanelle, and that’s Springtime!).
The six songs were completed in the piano version in 1841, but it was fifteen years (1856) before the more familiar orchestral version was finished. All six are settings from Gautier’s 1838 collection, La Comédie de la Mort (the Comedy of Death).
The work is an example of a song cycle mostly unified by being settings of words by a single poet. Gautier was both a friend and Parisian neighbour of the composer’s.
Two performances: one dating from 2013 with Véronique Gens, conductor Lionel Bringuier; and a famous 1963 recording by Régine Crespin and Ernest Ansermet …
Berlioz: Les Nuits d’été
Poems: Théophile Gautier
I. Villanelle 00:34
II. Le spectre de la rose 03:00
III. Sur les lagunes 09:00
IV. Absence 14:55
V. Au cimetière – Clair de lune 19:33
VI. L’île inconnue 24:07
(Apologies for the opening credits – the performance is worth hanging on for!):
Poems: Théophile Gautier
00:21 I. Villanelle
02:40 II. Le Spectre de la Rose
09:46 III. Sur les Lagunes (Lamento)
15:12 IV. Absence
21:22 V. Au Cimetière (Clair de Lune)
27:07 VI. L’île inconnue
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as “fair use”, for the purpose of study, and critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of the copyright owner(s).
Pontarddulais!
The Art of Listening 