Roses et Papillons

Notes

Poem by Victor Hugo, written 1834 – appears in Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 27b.

I perceived this poem as a journey from life to death and from there to eternity, where roses symbolise death and papillons represent life. My intention was to reflect the text’s vivid descriptions based on words and sentences I considered to be of primary importance, evoking colourful images (Aux champs, que ton calice verse. Son trésor!), as opposed to the mysteries of eternity, which joins two people forever (la tombe nous reassemble – on peut choisir au hasard, ou la terre Ou le ciel!).

In particular, my approach was based on contrasts between an impressionistic aura of harmonies and vocal writing, and blocks of clusters whose tones are rearranged and distributed throughout different registers, forming each time a repetitive three-chord progression at the role of a leitmotif that symbolises death.