Gabriel Faure was fond of his Op. 43 No. 2 melodie Nocturne, composed in 1886. He complained to milie Girette (see my previous post) that nobody ever sang it. Fortunately, she sang it beautifully for him. We don't know what key she first sang it in, but she says that Faure told her that he would to try to get her a score printed in the original key, which was very low, because he liked it in the contralto version (reproduced below). It is a dreamy, sultry song, which might lose some of its velvet softness if sung by a high or bright voice.

This song was not known to me, and I was keen to find out why Faure liked it. After listening to its strangely alluring and sinuous patterns, I felt I'd uncovered the source of inspiration for Ravel's Bolero. Note in particular the recurring motif that first appears in Bar 7, and also the descending phrase at Bars 10?14.

Nocturne is published in two keys, E flat (the original) and C (high voice). Astonishingly, these are one sixth apart, and if milie ? who billed herself as a mezzo-soprano although she also sang soprano parts ? was singing the version in C major, it is perhaps not surprising that Faure preferred to revert to his original tonality, as the high version is something altogether different. The right-hand piano part goes up so high that, if raised up a sixth, its notes would fall off the top end of the keyboard. The solution was to shift the whole accompaniment down rather than up, so that it sits one octave below the place where its upward transposition should have taken it, leaving the voice part high and dry! However, milie may have been singing it in some other key, because during Faure's lifetime it was also published in G flat, G, A flat and B flat. We are not so spoiled for choice now, there being only two keys available in print: E flat (the original key) and C. Here is the first page of the C-major version.


You can see how the accompaniment for the high version has shifted down a minor third instead of up a sixth, thereby distancing its opening chords from the disembodied voice above. In the original version the vocal line is better contained within its enveloping nocturnal atmosphere, but the tessitura is low, even for a medium-voiced singer. The long-held bottom B flat at the top of the second page, which comes right at the end of the phrase, is not easy to sustain if that note happens to be your passaggio into the lower register. The C major version may resolve that particular problem, but its dangers lie ahead: on page 3 it flies up into the stratosphere and stays there. Even a high voice will find it hard work, and any singer for whom the original tonality lies too low will take one look at the last page and move on to the next song in the book.

Why choose an alternative key which goes to such an extreme if high notes are not being used as a compositional device to create a deliberate effect? Indeed, we know from milie Girette that it was a low, soft and dreamy sound that Faure wanted in this song. A song's tessitura should remain the same with respect to the voice that sings it, and the choice of published keys should reflect this. It is usual to transpose songs up or down a tone or minor third; rarely a third or at the very most a fourth, so one wonders why a sixth was chosen here.

Given that there were plenty of more sensible printed keys to choose from, it is a shame that Hamelle retained C major for the high version and abandoned the other alternatives. Perhaps the reason was not connected with any musical consideration and had more to do with which particular printing plates Hamelle still had at its disposition in a usable condition. Much French music is barely legible, so worn were the plates from which the masters were made for reprinting. But I suspect that, for most female singers, the original key lies somewhat too low for comfort (though it's fine for men) and the high version is too high.

I'm rewriting this song in G flat, which seems a good compromise. It's low enough to sound low (which would please Faure) and is a good fit for my voice. But it leaves me wondering whether the publisher's restricted and impractical choice of keys to present to the public might not be largely responsible Nocturne's neglect.




...Read More