Nerval's Poems

Nerval’s Poems is based on four poems from the collection Odelettes by Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855). As a psychotic poète maudit this French poet  lived in the realms of his imagination, where he identified himself with fairy-tale princes and Oriental heroes. His small – but valuable – oeuvre would become a great source of inspiration for the later symbolists and surrealists.

The four poems are preceded by an instrumental prologue.  Une Allée du Luxembourg evokes one fleeting moment crystallizing a feeling of love and the nostalgia for bygone days. Espagne is a poetic homage to Spain, musically reflected in typically Spanish sounds with an Arabic touch. Chanson Gothique is a poem about enjoying the beauty of life; in the music these elements appear in a chanson-like song, which goes back to the theme of the prologue. The work closes with Notre-Dame de Paris: an ode to that mighty cathedral. The introductory bars of this movement are inspired on Schumann’s song about another famous European cathedral: the Cologne Cathedral – Kölner Dom in German – (“Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome” [The Rhine, the holy river] from Dichterliebe [A Poet’s Love]).