Arleen Auger was a gifted soprano whose purity of sound and amazing agility was nonpareill. She will always remain in my heart and I recall the profound sadness I felt when she passed away in 1993.That sadness still remains with me.
Votre âme est un paysage choisi Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques. Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune, Au calme clair de lune triste et beau, Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau, Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.
Your soul is a chosen landscape On which masks and Bergamasques cast enchantment as they go, Playing the lute, and dancing, and all but Sad beneath their fantasy-disguises. Singing all the while, in the minor mode, Of all-conquering love and life so kind to them They do not seem to believe in their good fortune, And their song mingles with the moonlight, With the calm moonlight, sad and lovely, Which makes the birds dream in the trees, And the plumes of the fountains weep in ecstasy, The tall, slender plumes of the fountains among the marble sculptures.
