The author and poet Jules Renard often mocked the characters in his own work, treating them in a particularly sarcastic, even cruel manner. This is particularly the case in his Histoiries naturelles, a collection of poems based on the 44-volume zoological treatise by the 18th-century French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon. In this work, Renard elevates the animals by making them archetypes of human personalities, and in doing so rather animalize men. Published in 1895, it became quite popular, and eleven years later Maurice Ravel selected five of Renard’s poems to set to music under the same title. Ravel’s settings are witty and humorous, certainly taking their cue from the lighthearted nature of the poems themselves, and which was seemingly lost on the audience at its premiere performance in 1907. Nonetheless, the charm of Ravel’s picturesque settings has nonetheless made Histoires naturellesa favorite among the composer’s vocal music.
Unlike its companion songs, “Le martin-pêcheur” (“The Kingfisher”) is presented not from the perspective of the animal itself, but instead of an unknown narrator. This narrator sits plaintively by the waterside, fishing to no avail. Suddenly, a kingfisher, a brightly-colored bird generally associated with lakes and rivers in the Old World, lands on his fishing pole. He muses that the bird has mistook him for a tree branch, and quietly admires the bird’s brilliant plumage. Typically shy birds around humans, the narrator takes pride in the fact the bird does not immediately fly away. Ravel’s setting is hushed and pensive, taking its cue from the fisherman himself. The piano provides a dense harmonic accompaniment to the restrained vocal melody that barely rises above a piano—the narrator speaks, but quietly hoping not to scare away the bird from his fishing pole. Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Bass
Maurice Ravel
Le martin-pêcheur, from Histoires naturelles Play
Recorded on 07/06/2010, uploaded on 10/25/2011
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
The author and poet Jules Renard often mocked the characters in his own work, treating them in a particularly sarcastic, even cruel manner. This is particularly the case in his Histoiries naturelles, a collection of poems based on the 44-volume zoological treatise by the 18th-century French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon. In this work, Renard elevates the animals by making them archetypes of human personalities, and in doing so rather animalize men. Published in 1895, it became quite popular, and eleven years later Maurice Ravel selected five of Renard’s poems to set to music under the same title. Ravel’s settings are witty and humorous, certainly taking their cue from the lighthearted nature of the poems themselves, and which was seemingly lost on the audience at its premiere performance in 1907. Nonetheless, the charm of Ravel’s picturesque settings has nonetheless made Histoires naturellesa favorite among the composer’s vocal music.
Unlike its companion songs, “Le martin-pêcheur” (“The Kingfisher”) is presented not from the perspective of the animal itself, but instead of an unknown narrator. This narrator sits plaintively by the waterside, fishing to no avail. Suddenly, a kingfisher, a brightly-colored bird generally associated with lakes and rivers in the Old World, lands on his fishing pole. He muses that the bird has mistook him for a tree branch, and quietly admires the bird’s brilliant plumage. Typically shy birds around humans, the narrator takes pride in the fact the bird does not immediately fly away. Ravel’s setting is hushed and pensive, taking its cue from the fisherman himself. The piano provides a dense harmonic accompaniment to the restrained vocal melody that barely rises above a piano—the narrator speaks, but quietly hoping not to scare away the bird from his fishing pole. Joseph DuBose
More music by Maurice Ravel
La Valse
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure
Noctuelles from Miroirs
Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2
Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs
Alborada del Gracioso, from Miroirs
Pièce en Forme de Habanera
Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques
Rhapsodie espagnole
Concerto No. 2 in D Major for Piano and Orchestra
Performances by same musician(s)
Die Beiden Grenadiere, Op. 49, No. 1
Abends am Strand, Op. 45, No. 3
Le paon, from Histoires naturelles
Le cygne, from Histoires naturelles
Le grillon, from Histoires naturelles
Le pintade, from Histoires naturelles
Classical Music for the Internet Era™
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