HECTOR BERLIOZ

d’été, Op. 7 (“Summer Nights”)

Les nuits d’été,
BORN: La Côte-Saint-André, near Grenoble, France, December 11, 1803
DIED: Paris, March 8, 1869
WORK COMPOSED: unknown–1841; orchestrated 1843–56
WORLD PREMIERE: Several songs of Les nuits d’été were performed individually on different occasions during
Berlioz’s lifetime, but evidently not the complete set. The occasion of the first integral performance is unknown.

Berlioz was at his best when writing music of either high drama or dream-like languor. He gives us the latter in the
second of these six songs, “Le spectre de la rose,” weaving an exquisite musical tapestry whose combination of
clarinet, flute, solo cello and violin tones imparts a delicate sensuality.

In the ensuing song, “Sur les lagunes,” Berlioz combines the rhythms of a barcarolle, the traditional Venetian
gondolier’s song, with minor-key harmonies and striking aural gestures to create the most dramatic music of Les
nuits d’été.

The music of the final song, “L’île inconnue,” conjures up the wind and billowing sails described in the text.

Hector Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été (“Summer Nights”) is perhaps the most beautiful cycle of love songs in French
music, but the work’s genesis is shrouded in mystery. Berlioz seems to have written these six songs for mezzo-
soprano and orchestra in 1840 and 1841, though one or two might have originated earlier. Unusually, since the
composer was a prolific writer of letters, there is no mention of them in his correspondence from this time. The
songs speak of love, and especially lost love, suggesting that Berlioz may have experienced some romantic
heartache at this time, yet nothing in his biography directly supports this notion.

Berlioz garnered the verses for Les nuits d’été from a collection of poems by Théophile Gautier published in 1838.
By the summer of 1841, the six songs were complete and ready for publication in a version with piano
accompaniment. Over the next decade and a half, Berlioz transcribed the piano parts for orchestra, completing
the orchestration of all six in 1856. Although other composers had set individual songs with orchestral
accompaniment, Les nuits d’été stands as the first important song cycle for voice and orchestra.

The six songs trace an arc from young, hopeful love through bereft love and finally to what seems an acceptance
of love’s impermanence. The first number, “Villanelle,” uses the imagery of a springtime stroll in the woods to
evoke youthful romance. Berlioz sets Gautier’s verses to an appealing tune, but his artistry reveals itself most of
all in the orchestral asides that color and punctuate the vocal melody. Orchestral sonority also plays a crucial role
in the second song, “Le spectre de la rose.”

The mood turns darker with the third song, “Sur les lagunes,” a heartbroken lament for a deceased love. The
ensuing “Absence” also speaks of longing for a beloved, but with the possibility of reunion. Consequently, its
music is of brighter character.

Like “Le spectre de la rose,” the fifth song in the cycle, “Au cimetière,” is a ghost story of sorts, and Berlioz’s
atmospheric music is perfectly suited to its haunting verses. The concluding song invites us to sail to the land of
love.

Scored for solo tenor; pairs of woodwinds; 3 horns; harp; strings.

© 2017 Paul Schiavo