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 naturelles a favorite among the composer’s vocal music.
Second in the cycle is “Le grillon,” or “The Cricket.” Renard’s imagery here is somewhat more cryptic than in “Le paon,” comparing the eventide chirping of crickets to human labors that, to the imagination at least, conjure its sound. Renard imagines that the cricket is nervous, cautious of his own safety, that his song has been but the sound of his efforts to protect himself. Finally, forced to resign from his work, he descends slowly into the earth, and in the final lines of the poem, the reader is at last given a concrete depiction of the scene—a mute countryside, with poplars pointing towards the moon. Like the previous song, Ravel’s treatment adheres closely to the inherent flow of Renard’s text, subjugating the music to the text, and resulting in a setting that is quite recitative-like throughout regardless of whether expressly notated or not. The piano accompaniment is noticeably unsettled in its sense of insecurity, and even the cricket’s “chirps” appear beginning in the middle portion of the song. Lastly, the contrasting calm scene of the poem is depicted in the sudden resonant, sustained chords that accompany the final lines.Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Bass
Maurice Ravel
Le grillon, 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 naturelles a favorite among the composer’s vocal music.
Second in the cycle is “Le grillon,” or “The Cricket.” Renard’s imagery here is somewhat more cryptic than in “Le paon,” comparing the eventide chirping of crickets to human labors that, to the imagination at least, conjure its sound. Renard imagines that the cricket is nervous, cautious of his own safety, that his song has been but the sound of his efforts to protect himself. Finally, forced to resign from his work, he descends slowly into the earth, and in the final lines of the poem, the reader is at last given a concrete depiction of the scene—a mute countryside, with poplars pointing towards the moon. Like the previous song, Ravel’s treatment adheres closely to the inherent flow of Renard’s text, subjugating the music to the text, and resulting in a setting that is quite recitative-like throughout regardless of whether expressly notated or not. The piano accompaniment is noticeably unsettled in its sense of insecurity, and even the cricket’s “chirps” appear beginning in the middle portion of the song. Lastly, the contrasting calm scene of the poem is depicted in the sudden resonant, sustained chords that accompany the final lines. 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 pintade, from Histoires naturelles
Le martin-pêcheur, from Histoires naturelles
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