French Baroque Cantatas

476 5941
MONTCLAIR STUCK

THE PERFECTION OF MUSIC

MASTERPIECES OF THE FRENCH BAROQUE
TARYN FIEBIG FIONA CAMPBELL
ENSEMBLE BATTISTIN
 MICHEL PIGNOLET DE MONTCLAIR 1667-1737

Stewart Smith, Suzanne Wijsman, Fiona Campbell and Robin Adamson recording at New Norcia
La mort de Didon (The Death of Dido) [1304]
1 Lent, marqu et dtach: Je ne verrai donc plus ne 249
So I shall not see Aeneas again
2 Air lent: O Toi, Desse de Cithre, tendre Vnus 418
O Thou, goddess of Cytherea, tender Venus
3 Rcitatif: Infidle, pourquoi quittez-vous ce rivage ? 043
Faithless one, why are you leaving these shores?
4 Vivement: Tyrans de lempire de londe 153
Tyrants of the empire of the waves
5 Rcitatif: Non ! Arrtez ! 147
No! Stop!
6 Air gai: Quil est dangereux de se rendre aux vux 134
How dangerous it is to believe promises
Fiona Campbell mezzo-soprano

JEAN-BAPTISTE STUCK 1680-1755

Lamant rconcili (The Reconciled Lover) [1209]
7 Rcitatif: Enfin de ma Phillis jai calm le courroux 035
At last I have calmed the anger of my Phyllis
8 Air gaiement: Lobjet de mes vux me rend sa tendresse 253
The object of my desires returns my tenderness
9 Rcitatif Lentement: Que les soupons jaloux qui troublaient nos amours 052
Let the jealous suspicions which troubled our love
0 Mouvement juste Lentement: La discorde en tous lieux 123
Discord everywhere
! Rcitatif: Faisons retentir les airs des plus aimables concerts 024
Let us make the tunes of the most delightful concerts sound
@ Ritournelle gai Air: Vnus lui donna ses attraits 219
Venus gave her her charms
Air gai: Chantons, chantons les doux transports 343
Let us sing, let us sing the sweet transports
Taryn Fiebig soprano

2 3
 MICHEL PIGNOLET DE MONTCLAIR Introduction
Ariane et Bachus (Ariadne and Bacchus) [1438]
$ Rcitatif: Ariane adorait le volage Thse 103 The bringing together of French and Italian styles
Ariadne adored the fickle Theseus must create the perfection of music. (Franois
% Air lent: Plus cruel que le Minotaure 337 Couperin, 1725)
More cruel than the Minotaur
Couperins ideal of fusing the Italian and French
^ Vivement: Ah ! dans mon dsespoirMais quel Dieu fait
frmir les ondes ? 143 styles of music, which during the 17th century
Ah! in my despairBut what God disturbs the waves? had provided the twin foundations of much
& Air tendrement: Rgnez adorable mortelle 335 European music, found a ready response from
Reign, adorable mortal French composers at the beginning of the next
* Rcitatif: LAmour de la plus douce chane 059 century. At the very heart of this movement
Love, with the sweetest chain sprang a repertoire of vocal and instrumental
( Air gai: Si vos amants brisent leurs chanes 341
chamber music of extraordinary beauty,
If your lovers break their chains
freshness and at times remarkable dramatic
Fiona Campbell mezzo-soprano
power. The Perfection of Music Masterpieces
JEAN-BAPTISTE STUCK from the French Baroque is a series of five
Cphale et Aurore (Cephalus and Aurora) [1714] compact discs, each exploring chamber music in
) Gravement et dtach: La nuit dun voile obscur couvrait encore les airs 232 France from around 1690 to 1750. Four cantatas
Night still covered the air with a dark veil by two of the great masters of the genre
Lentement: Vous qui parcourez cette plaine 534 Montclair and Battistin (Jean-Baptiste Stuck)
You who travel over this plain open the series. A double compact disc set
Rcitatif: Mais que dis-je ? 045
explores music at the Concert Spirituel and the
But what am I saying?
Concert Franais; a program of music associated
# Air gai: Il en est temps encore, Cphale, ouvre les yeux 245
with Philippe II, the Duke of Orlans and Regent
There is still time, Cephalus, open your eyes
Rcitatif: Elle dit, et le Dieu qui rpand la lumire de son char argent 115 of France, and a disc of little-known gems from
Thus she said. And the God who pours out the light from his silvered chariot the vast repertoire of French instrumental
Doucement: Ainsi lAmour punit un calme trop coupable 121 chamber music complete the series.
Thus Love punishes a too culpable calm
Gai: Nattendez jamais le jour 302 So-called Baroque music (with its distinctive
Never await the day style, forms and expression) first developed in
Taryn Fiebig soprano the early 17th century in Italy, quickly spreading
Total Playing Time 5725 into Germany and Spain. And France? Here, it
Ensemble Battistin met resistance. This was because, unlike in Italy
4 5
(and Germany), artistic life in France revolved
around a centralised, bureaucratic institution: the
royal court. This was where gifted musicians
sought employment, creating and performing in
a style that appealed to royal taste. When the
young Louis XIV (the so-called Sun King)
ascended the throne in 1661 to rule in his own
right, he was determined that French culture
would not only match that of Italy, but outdo it,
and in a way that set it apart from its great rival.
As a result, most 17th-century French music
reflects a courtly grace, its phrases so often
moving in the rhythms and gestures of that most
popular of diversions dancing. While the French
dance forms were extensively borrowed by
musicians in other countries, the hallmark of
Italian Baroque music lay in its driving rhythms,
its colourful harmonies, vocal and instrumental
virtuosity. Thus it was that musical Europe
regarded Italian and French styles as quite
distinctive. Yet these polarities were to come
together towards the end of the 17th century,
ushering in a new and very fertile period of
French music. Not least amongst the early fruits
were its first cantatas and sonatas.
This bringing together of French and Italian styles
came about in an unexpected way. In the decade
of the 1680s the great arbiter of French taste
Louis XIV suffered a series of misfortunes from
military defeats, virtual bankruptcy of the state,
political miscalculations and last, but not least, a
string of family bereavements. The lights began
to dim in what had been the most glittering
court in Europe. After the Queen died in 1683,
Louis married Mme de Maintenon, a woman
noted for her piety who drew her husband away
from the pleasures of the court and it was not
long before the lively minds who had gathered
at the palace of Versailles turned to Paris for
amusement and stimulation. Unlike Versailles,
where French music held pride of place, Paris,
though only 17 miles from it, was discovering
the delights of Italian music. Couperin was to
head a movement that sought to combine both
styles, and in his words to gain perfection
in music.
Louis XIV was to remain on the throne until
1715, after which, until the young Louis XV was
old enough to take his great-grandfathers place,
the country was ruled by a Regent, the Duke of
Orlans, who was to live in his own palace in
Paris (the Palais Royal) and not at Versailles. Yet
during the declining years of the Sun Kings rule
Paris was already beginning to take on
something of the spirit of those pleasure-loving
days of the coming Regency, its ftes galantes
immortally captured on canvas by Antoine
Watteau. Like many a Parisian he was enchanted
by the commedia dellarte and the possibility of
blending French and Italian styles in popular
theatre. Its scarcely to be wondered at that
French cantatas and sonatas, inspired by Italian
models, suddenly burst into the musical scene
in Paris and captivated its audiences.
6 7
The French Cantata
Before the advent of the cantata, dramatic
music in France had found its outlet only in
opera or tragdie-lyrique as it was called.
Unlike Italian opera, the French version (created
by Lully) made much of dancing and of chorus.
Eighteenth-century French cantatas, dramatic as
they were, were composed, however, not for
the stage, but for the musical salon. Thus, there
were no dancers or choruses and they generally
called for one voice only, accompanied by a
small ensemble. This meant that in order to
attract enthusiasm for the new, smaller form
composers had to be very imaginative, for they
could not rely on gesture, scenery, dancing or
chorus to help convey the mini-drama contained
in each cantata. This was now up to the text, the
music and the dramatic skill of singers and
players alone.
The form of the cantata, borrowed from Italy,
was one of alternating recitatives and airs, the
story-line usually based on Greek mythology. Yet
no matter how tragic the incident, in the hands
of cantata librettists the story becomes a mere
cautionary tale for 18th-century lovers after all,
its audience was urbane and sophisticated and,
being Parisian, not likely to take matters over-
seriously! Thus, in Montclairs Ariane et
Bachus, Ariadne abandoned by Theseus is
befriended by handsome Bacchus, so, as the
last air suggests, when loves chains are broken
you can do well to drown your sorrows in
Bacchuss love and wine! The cantata, in fact,
spawned a quite large body of cantata poetry theories of performance style and vocal
regarded as a genre in its own right, and at the technique were put into practice. For example,
time it helped the new form achieve
the two singers performing on this disc, Fiona
extraordinary popularity. The value of the music,
Campbell and Taryn Fiebig both well-known
however, can be in no doubt. To judge from the
Australian opera and oratorio singers
works on the discs in this series, Couperins
experimented with changing aspects of vocal
prediction that the union of French and Italian
production, tone and ornamentation.
styles would bring musical perfection may not
have been too far off the mark. Most French cantatas were composed for solo
voice (most usually a high voice) accompanied
The French cantata in performance by continuo alone or by a larger ensemble. The
solo singer was at the same time the narrator
Modern performances of 18th-century French
and character(s) of the story; the typical operatic
cantatas have greatly benefited from what is
situation with a group of singers each taking a
known generally about Baroque practices. It can
dramatic role is rarely found in the French
be taken for granted that after decades of
cantata repertoire. The composers were very
scholarly studies of performance manuals which
practical over the choice of voices and
form the basis of todays historically informed
instruments. On the various scores we read that
versions, we can now expect, for example, to
voices were interchangeable, no matter the
hear stylish ornamentation from singers and
characterisation, and that the music may be
instrumentalists alike, and that the latter, playing
transposed to suit them. Flutes and violins often
on original instruments or, more likely, replicas
swapped places, and instruments could be
of them can give us a good idea of the
doubled or played solo. It was not a matter of
instrumental sonorities of those days. But what
indifference; rather, it was recognition that
of the singers? No matter the century, the vocal
performances so often depended upon what
apparatus has remained the same, and hence
forces were available. This was not only in
the instrument itself gives no clue as to the
cantata repertoire. Couperin gives a remarkable
vocal sonorities of earlier times. For this we
array of instrumental possibilities in many of his
need to depend upon circumstantial evidence
works. All he demanded was close attention to
and what singing treatises tell us about vocal
appropriate ornamentation, tempos and
production admittedly, very little. As part of the
articulation, features that have informed our own
research behind these cantata performances, a
performances in this series.
vocal workshop was set up during this project to
follow these hints whereby 18th-century
The composers and their works
An Italian composer of German descent, Jean-
Baptiste Stuck arrived in Paris in 1705 where he
was also known as Battistin. He was a virtuoso
cellist whom the Duke of Orlans appointed to
his musical staff at the Palais Royal. Here Stuck
found himself in the company of very gifted
musicians, one of whom Jean-Baptiste Morin
had composed the first cantate franaise,
initiating what became the most widely
cultivated and popular form in early 18th-century
France. Morin had spoken of retaining the
sweetness of our French style of melody, but
with greater variety in the accompaniment and
employing tempos and key-changes
characteristic of the Italian cantata. Stuck and
others at the Palais Royal followed his example
encouraged by the Duke, himself a composer
and a champion of Italian music. The two
cantatas by Stuck recorded on this disc come
from the first of his four books (1706-1714).
Michel Pignolet de Montclair had sojourned in
Italy, returning at the turn of the century to Paris
where he was appointed to the Opra as a
double bass player. He was a very fine composer
and his 20 French cantatas (he also wrote Italian
ones) are amongst the most remarkable in the
repertoire in their range of expression and
explicit instructions for performance.
8 9
La mort de Didon (c. 1709)
by Michel Pignolet de Montclair
for voice, violin, flute and basso continuo
The story: Dido, Queen of Carthage, gives way
to grief and rage when she discovers that
Aeneas has abandoned her. After calling upon
the Gods to avenge her and drown Aeneas as
he flees across the ocean, she plunges a knife
into her heart. The moral is very simple: it is
dangerous to pledge ones heart to a fickle lover.
Except for the beguiling air at the end, the
cantata is intense and dramatic throughout. Only
once does Didos rage give way to a melancholic
reproach to Venus, mother of faithless Aeneas.
In this, the second air of the cantata, voice and
flute entwine in an exquisite duet, the lines
delicately embellished with ornaments notated
by the composer himself, instead of leaving it to
the performers to improvise.
Lamant rconcili (1706)
by Jean-Baptiste Stuck
for voice, two violins and basso continuo
The story: Two lovers rejoice that their quarrels
are ended.
This work was also entitled Lheureux amant
(The Happy Lover) in at least one reprint. Stucks
cantatas were performed often at the Concert
franais and remained very popular in the
composers lifetime. Despite the fact that he
was foreign-born, Stucks selection and settings
of French poetry were excellent, and his
masterly ability to fuse elements of French and
Italian styles in his many cantatas suggest that
his works still warrant today the high esteem in
which they were held by his 18th-century
patrons and audiences.
Not surprisingly, this cantata is lyrical and mostly
untroubled just a flash of drama when it is
recalled how discord can arouse war even
amongst the Gods. One of the highlights of the
work is the final air: the only time in the French
cantata repertoire when a fugue is the basis of
the movement in this case, a four-part romp!
Ariane et Bachus (1728)
by Michel Pignolet de Montclair
for voice, violin, flute, viola da gamba
and basso continuo
The story: Ariadne, abandoned on the island of
Naxos by Theseus (who with her help had slain
Lovers who sleep during the night are
the Minotaur and escaped the labyrinth), pours
out her grief at Theseuss betrayal. The handsome
God of the Vine, Bacchus, hears her and is so
moved by both her sorrow and her beauty that
he falls in love and gives her a crown adorned
with seven golden stars. After her death
Bacchuss gift becomes the constellation known
as Ariadnes Crown. The moral of the cantata,
expressed in the final air, is that betrayed lovers
would do well to turn to Bacchus.
Even though the legend is a tragic one, the
expression of grief and anger in the cantata is
relieved by movements of charming lyricism.
Instrumental forces are deployed by Montclair
with dramatic effect: an arpeggiated interjection
by the obbligato bass viol paints disturbed
waves caused by the gods, followed by an
interlude with the sweetest music, in which the
vocal line is accompanied only by a flute and
doubled by the violin part, with the basso
continuo omitted entirely.
Cphale et Aurore (1706)
by Jean-Baptiste Stuck
for voice, two violins, flute, viola
and basso continuo
The story: Aurora, Goddess of the Dawn,
discovers the youthful hunter Cephalus asleep.
Yet, by waking him she can admire him no
longer, for she must leave as the day advances.
reproached in the final air.
The opening scene is wonderfully yet simply
painted by music in which the Goddess of the
Dawn, Aurora, slowly approaches the sleeping
mortal, Cephalus. The contrast in mood between
the repeated notes in the instrumental
accompaniment, symbolising sleep, and the
lively and brilliant second air as Aurora urges the
sleeper to open his eyes (clearly indebted to the
Italian sonata style in the violin parts) typifies the
way Stuck masterfully brings to life the dramatic
action in the text by musical means. A
cheerful gigue brings this fine cantata to a
close, with a message about the fleeting
nature of love.

David Tunley

David Tunley is internationally renowned as a

musicologist, particularly in the field of French
music in the 18th and 19th centuries. His book
The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata (1974,
revised 1997) which has become the classic
study of the genre along with his subsequent
17-volume facsimile edition of French cantatas
(1990) provided the impetus for this recording
project. His most recent book is Franois
Couperin and The Perfection of Music (2004).
His research into French music began in 1964
while studying as a composer in Paris with
Nadia Boulanger. He is a Chevalier in the
Napoleonic Order of Palmes Acadmiques, a
Member of the Order of Australia, and an
Emeritus Professor of Music at the University
of Western Australia.

Right: Ceiling and altarpiece,

Chapel of St Ildephonsus, New Norcia

10 11
 La mort de Didon
Lent, marqu et dtach
1 Je ne verrai donc plus ne,
Scria tristement Didon abandonne.
Il est donc vrai quil part ?
Il fuit loin de ces bords.
Dieux, que jtais crdule !
Dieux, quil est perfide !
Linconstant plus lger que le vent qui le guide,
Me quitte sans regrets, me trahit sans remords.
Air lent
2 O Toi, Desse de Cithre, tendre Vnus,
Es-tu la mre de lingrat qui ma su charmer ?
Non, non. Non, non il ne sait pas aimer.
Hlas pourquoi sait-il trop plaire ?
Rcitatif
3 Infidle, pourquoi quittez-vous ce rivage ?
Les plaisirs et les jeux y volaient sur vos pas.
Pourquoi vouloir rgner dans de lointains climats
Quand ma main vous offrait le sceptre de Carthage ?
Perfide amant, funeste jour !
Faut-il que je trouve un volage
Dans le frre du tendre amour ?
Vivement
4 Tyrans de lempire de londe
Grondez. Volez vents furieux.
levez les flots jusquaux cieux.
Que tout lunivers se confonde,
Tonnez, vengez mes feux trahis.
Justes Dieux, vengez mon injure.
Tonnez, embrasez un parjure
Dans le sein mme de Thtis.
12
The Death of Dido Rcitatif
5 Non ! Arrtez !
So I shall not see Aeneas again, Grands Dieux, gardez-vous dexaucer
the abandoned Dido cried sadly. Mon courroux lgitime.
So it is true that he is leaving? Laissez-moi choisir ma victime.
ne est dans mon cur et je vais ly percer.
He is fleeing far from these shores.
Gods, how credulous I was! Sur un bcher fatal, thtre de sa rage,
O Gods, how perfidious he is! Didon en ce moment se livre la fureur.
The faithless one, lighter than the wind that draws him, Un fer, triste prsent que lui laisse un volage,
leaves me without regrets, betrays me without remorse. Un fer cruel lui perce enfin le cur.
Mourante elle tombe et son me
Chrit encore lingrat quelle na pu toucher.
O Thou, Goddess of Cytherea, tender Venus, are you Elle expire sur le bcher.
the mother of the ungrateful one who was able to charm me? Le flambeau de lamour en allume la flamme.
No, no. No, no he cannot love.
Alas, how is it that he can please too much? Air gai
6 Quil est dangereux
De se rendre aux vux
Faithless one, why are you leaving these shores? Dun objet volage.
Pleasures and games floated around your steps. Un sensible cur
Why wish to reign in distant climes Risque son bonheur
when my hand offered you the sceptre of Carthage? Le jour quil sengage.
Que les seuls plaisirs
Perfidious lover, disastrous day! Fixent nos dsirs.
Must I find an inconstant heart vitons les peines.
in the brother of tender love? Amour, si les jeux
Nen forment les nuds
Tyrants of the empire of the wave, Je brise mes chanes.
groan. Blow, furious winds.
Raise the waves to the skies. Lamant rconcili
Let the whole universe converge, Rcitatif
thunder, avenge my betrayed feelings. 7 Enfin de ma Phillis jai calm le courroux,
Just Gods, avenge my insult. Et lamour a voulu rtablir entre nous
Thunder, set fire to a faithless one Les douceurs dune paix charmante
in the very breast of Thetis. Avec tous les transports dune ardeur renaissante.
No! Stop!
Great Gods, do not grant the prayer
of my legitimate anger.
Let me choose my victim.
Aeneas is in my heart and it is there that I shall wound him.
On a deadly pyre, the scene of her rage,
Dido at that moment gave herself over to her fury.
A dagger, sad gift left to her by the fickle one,
a cruel dagger at last pierces her heart.
Dying, she falls and her soul
still cherishes the ungrateful one whom she could not harm.
She dies on the pyre.
The torch of love lights its flame.
How dangerous it is
to believe the promises
of a fickle lover.
a feeling heart
risks its happiness
from the day it commits itself.
Let pleasure alone
decide our desires.
Let us avoid the suffering.
Love, unless games
are the basis of the attachment
I break my chains.
Anonymous
The Lover Reconciled
At last I have calmed the anger of my Phyllis,
and love has consented to re-establish between us
the sweetness of a charming peace
with all the transports of a re-awakening ardour.
13
 Air gaiement
8 Lobjet de mes vux me rend sa tendresse.
Mon cur amoureux na plus de tristesse.
Le trouble qui cesse redouble mes feux
Et lamour sempresse de me rendre heureux.
Rcitatif
9 Que les soupons jaloux qui troublaient nos amours
Emports par les vents se perdent pour toujours.
Lentement
Pourvu que ma Phillis soit sensible ma flamme
La paix et les plaisirs rgneront dans mon me.
Mouvement juste
0 La discorde en tous lieux
Peut porter le tonnerre.
Quelle allume la guerre,
Mme parmi les Dieux.
Lentement
Pourvu que ma Phillis soit sensible ma flamme
La paix et les plaisirs rgneront dans mon me.
Rcitatif
! Faisons retentir les airs
Des plus aimables concerts.
Que le fils de Latone et la brillante Flore
Couronnent lenvi la beaut que jadore.
Ritournelle gai Air
@ Vnus lui donna ses attraits,
Et lamour lui prte ses traits.
Aussi brillante que laurore,
Elle a tous les charmes de Flore.
Air gai
Chantons, chantons les doux transports de lamour
qui menflamme.
14
The object of my desires returns my tenderness.
My loving heart is no longer sad.
The emotion that is ending doubles my passion
and love hastens to make me happy.
Let the jealous suspicions which troubled our love
carried away by the winds be lost forever.
Provided my Phyllis responds to my ardour,
peace and pleasure will reign in my heart.
Discord everywhere
can bring thunder.
Let it arouse war,
even among the Gods.
Provided my Phyllis responds to my ardour
peace and pleasure will reign in my heart.
Let us make the tunes
of the most delightful concerts sound.
Let the son of Latone and brilliant Flora
crown completely the beauty I adore.
Venus gave her her charms,
and Love lends her his likeness.
As brilliant as the dawn,
she has all the charms of Flora.
Let us sing, let us sing the sweet transports of the love
which enflames me.
Clbrons la beaut qui rgne dans mon me.
cho de ces bois
Rponds ma voix.
Anonymous
Ariane et Bachus
Rcitatif
$ Ariane adorait le volage Thse.
Il rpondait longtemps ses soins assidus,
Mais dun amour si doux sa confiance est lasse.
Il labandonne, seule, en des lieux inconnus.
Dans son cruel dpit, cette amante abuse
Exprime par ces mots ses regrets superflus,
Implorant, mais en vain, la tendresse passe
Dun amant qui la fuit et ne lcoute plus.
Air lent
% Plus cruel que le Minotaure,
Tu ris, ingrat, de mes douleurs.
Tu me trahis et je tadore.
Tu mabandonnes et je meurs.
Je nexige plus que tu maimes,
La haine est trop fort en ton cur.
Ah ! pour prix de mes feux extrmes
Viens, prends piti de mon malheur.
Vivement
^ Ah ! dans mon dsespoir le seul bien qui me reste
Cest vous, Mort. Je vole au-devant de vos coups.
Venez me dlivrer du jour que je dteste.
Les malheureux humains ne redoutent que vous,
Mais lamour a rendu mon destin si funeste
Que le plus grand des maux me semblera trop doux.
Let us celebrate the beauty who reigns in my soul.
Echo of these woods,
respond to my voice.
Ariadne and Bacchus
Ariadne adored the fickle Theseus.
For a long time he responded to her assiduous attentions,
but of this love so sweet his pleasure tired.
He abandons her, alone, in unknown places.
In her bitter disappointment, this deceived lover
expresses in these words her useless regrets,
invoking, but in vain, the past tenderness
of a lover who flies from her and no longer listens to her.
More cruel than the Minotaur,
you mock, faithless one, my sufferings.
You betray me and I adore you.
You abandon me and I die.
I no longer demand that you love me,
hatred is too strong in your heart.
Ah! as the price of my extreme passion
come, take pity on my unhappiness.
Ah! in my despair the only good thing left to me
is you, O Death. I fly to meet your blows.
Come and deliver me from this day I detest.
Unhappy humans fear only you,
but love has made my fate so dark
that this greatest of evils will seem to me very sweet.
15
 Mais quel Dieu fait frmir les ondes ?
Quel clat embellit les mers
Jusque dans leurs grottes profondes ?
Les Tritons sont charms par les plus doux concerts.
Sur ces bords carts, Bachus descend lui-mme.
Les Ris et les Amours volent devant ses pas.
Ariane quel est votre bonheur extrme ?
Pour vous seule les Dieux visitent ces climats.
Air tendrement
& Rgnez adorable mortelle.
Vous triomphez du plus charmant des Dieux.
Rendez grces linfidle
Qui vous assure un sort si glorieux.
Lorsquun Mortel vous abandonne
Vous enchanez le cur des Immortels.
Si vous perdez une couronne
Tout lunivers vous dresse des autels.
Rcitatif
* LAmour de la plus douce chane
Unit ces illustres amants.
Bachus changea la plus affreuse peine
En des plaisirs durables et charmants.
Ariane jouit dune gloire immortelle.
Sa couronne linstant slve jusquaux Cieux.
Elle y brille jamais dune clart nouvelle,
Monument ternel dun sort si glorieux.
Air gai
( Si vos amants brisent leurs chanes
Beauts, nimplorez que Bachus.
Courez, courez, noyez vos peines
Dans les flots charmants de son jus.
LAmour, toujours rempli dalarmes,
Tourmente les plus tendres curs.
But what God disturbs the waves?
What brilliance enriches the seas
right down to their deep grottos?
The Tritons are charmed by the sweetest music.
Onto these distant shores, Bacchus himself descends.
The Gods of laughter and of love fly before his feet.
Ariadne, how fortunate you are.
for you alone the Gods visit these regions.
Reign, adorable mortal.
You win over the most seductive of the Gods.
Be grateful to the unfaithful one
who has given you such a glorious fate.
When a Mortal abandons you
you enslave the heart of the Immortals.
Although you lose your crown
the whole universe makes altars to worship you.
Love, with the sweetest chain
Joined these famous lovers.
Bacchus changed the most frightful anguish
into lasting and charming pleasures.
Ariadne rejoices in immortal glory.
Her crown at that very moment rises to the heavens.
There she shines forever with a new brilliance,
an eternal monument to such a glorious fate.
If your lovers break their chains,
beauties, pray only to Bacchus.
Run, run, drown your sorrows
in the seductive flow of his libations.
Love, always full of fears,
torments the tenderest hearts.
16
Bachus lui prte mille charmes
Ou console de ses rigueurs.
Anonymous
Cphale et Aurore
Gravement et dtach
) La nuit dun voile obscur couvrait encore les airs
Et la seule Diane clairait lunivers,
Quand de la rive orientale
LAurore, dont lamour avance le rveil,
Vint trouver le jeune Cphale
Qui reposait encore dans le sein du sommeil.
Elle approche, elle hsite, elle craint, elle admire.
La surprise enchane ses sens
Et lamour du hros pour qui son cur soupire
sa timide voix arrache ces accents :
Lentement
Vous qui parcourez cette plaine,
Ruisseaux, coulez plus lentement,
Oiseaux, chantez plus doucement.
Zphyrs, retenez votre haleine.
Respectez un jeune chasseur
Las dune course violente,
Et du doux repos qui lenchante
Laissez-lui goter la douceur.
Rcitatif
Mais que dis-je ? O memporte une aveugle
tendresse ?
Lche amant, est-ce ainsi que ton ardeur te presse
De voir lobjet de ton amour ?
Viens-je donc en ces lieux te servir de trophe ?
Est-ce dans les bras de Morphe
Que lon doit dune amante attendre le retour ?
Bacchus gives it a thousand charms
or consoles you for its trials.
Cephalus and Aurora
Night still covered the air with a dark veil
and only Diana lit the universe,
when from the eastern bank
Dawn, her awakening hastened by love,
came to find the young Cephalus
who was still resting in the bosom of sleep.
She approaches, she hesitates, she fears, she admires.
Surprise captures her senses
and love for the hero for whom her heart sighs
calls forth from her timid voice these words:
You who travel over this plain,
streams, flow more slowly,
birds, sing more sweetly.
Breezes, withhold your breath.
Respect a young hunter
tired from a violent hunt,
and of the sweet repose which enchants him
allow him to taste the sweetness.
But what am I saying? Where is my blind tenderness
taking me?
Cowardly lover, is this how your ardour urges you
to look on the object of your love?
Have I come to this place to serve as your trophy?
Is it in the arms of Morpheus
that one should await the return of a lover?
17
 Air gai
# Il en est temps encore, Cphale, ouvre les yeux.
Le jour plus radieux va commencer dclore,
Et le flambeau des cieux va faire fuir lAurore.
Il en est temps encore, Cphale, ouvre les yeux.
Cphale, ouvre les yeux.
Rcitatif
Elle dit, et le Dieu qui rpand la lumire
De son char argent lanant ses premiers feux,
Vient ouvrir, mais trop tard, la tranquille paupire
Dun amour la fois heureux et malheureux.
Il sveille, il regarde, il la voit, il appelle :
Mais cris, pleurs superflus !
Elle fuit et ne laisse sa douleur mortelle
Que limage dun bien quil ne possde plus.
Doucement
Ainsi lAmour punit un calme trop coupable.
Mritez, jeunes curs, un sort plus favorable.
Air
Nattendez jamais le jour.
Veillez quand lAurore veille ;
Le moment o lon sommeille
Nest pas celui de lamour.
Comme un zphyr qui senvole,
Lheure de Vnus senfuit,
Et ne laisse pour tout fruit
Quun regret triste et frivole.
Anonymous
For the sake of clarity the texts have been translated in a literal rather than a poetic version.
18
There is still time, Cephalus, open your eyes.
The more radiant day will start to rise,
and the flame of the heavens will cause the Dawn to flee.
There is still time, Cephalus, open your eyes.
Cephalus, open your eyes,
she said. And the God who pours out the light
from his silvered chariot, showing his first light,
comes to open, but too late, the calm eyelid
of a love both fortunate and unfortunate.
He awakes, he looks round, he sees her, he calls:
But, O superfluous cries and tears!
she flees and leaves to his mortal suffering
only the image of a possession no longer his.
Thus Love punishes a too culpable calm.
Earn, young hearts, a more favourable fate.
Never await the day.
Watch when the Dawn is watching;
the moment when one sleeps
is not the moment of love.
Like a breeze that flies away,
the hour of Venus flees,
and leaves as its only result
a sad and frivolous regret.
Robin Adamson
Taryn Fiebig
Soprano
Taryn Fiebig graduated
from the University of
Western Australia in
1993 as a cellist, but
since then she has
gone on to make her
career as a singer.
While she has a deep
interest in Baroque
music (she has studied with Emma Kirkby,
Evelyn Tubb and Anthony Rooley), her musical
tastes and skills are very wide like another of
her teachers in UK, Jane Manning. As a soloist,
she has performed with the Australian
Brandenburg Orchestra, West Australian
Symphony Orchestra, Collegium Choirs, Perth
Oratorio Choir and Magnetic Pig contemporary
music ensemble. Internationally, Taryn has
performed in the USA, in England with the
English Chamber Orchestra and on BBC Radio 3
and Radio 4. Taryn graduated in 2003 from the
Australian Opera Studio in Perth and is much in
demand as an opera singer, not only for her agile
and beautiful voice, but also for her acting skills.
An Opera Australia Young Artist in 2005 and
2006, she has performed numerous principal
roles with Opera Australia, including starring in
their recent television performance of The
Pirates of Penzance.
Fiona Campbell
Mezzo-soprano
Fiona Campbell has
appeared in concert
with the Royal Opera
House Orchestra
Covent Garden, Prague
Chamber Orchestra,
Hong Kong
Philharmonic,
Manchester Camerata
and the West Australian, Adelaide and
Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. Winner of the
1994 ABC Young Performers Award (voice) and
the Australian Singing Competitions Opera
Awards in 1995, Fiona studied in London with
Josephine Veasey. Highlights have included the
world premiere of Jaz Colemans The Marriage
at Cana, with soloists of the Royal Opera House,
Venus in Tannhuser, Bachs St Matthew Passion
and Ruggiero in Alcina (Perth International Arts
Festival), Mozarts C minor Mass (Australian
Chamber Orchestra) and Idamante in Idomeneo
(Pinchgut Opera). A frequent artist with WA
Opera, she made her Opera Australia debut in
2006 as Tessa in The Gondoliers. She holds a
Master of Music degree and is a Lecturer in
Voice at the University of Western Australia.
19
Kate Clark
Transverse flute R. Tutz, 2000,
after I.H. Rottenberg
Kate Clark is a graduate in Music from the
University of Sydney. Leaving Australia in 1986
she studied Baroque flute with Barthold Kuijken
at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, and, in
1990, Renaissance flute with Anne Smith at the
Schola Cantorum in Basel. Three years later she
gained first prize at the Bruges International
Early Music Competition. Since then she has
performed with many European orchestras,
including the Freiburger Barock Orchester,
Concerto Kln and Rheinische Kantorei, and has
been solo flautist with Les Musiciens du Louvre
in Paris. She has participated in many recordings
of Baroque operas and cantatas and is a regular
guest soloist with the Australian Brandenburg
Orchestra. Kate is the artistic director of The
Attaignant Consort, formed in 1998 to perform
16th-century chansons, dances and polychoral
music. A regular guest lecturer and teacher in
Europe, she lives in Amsterdam.
Paul Wright
Violin Kloz, 1807 (Stuck); Rene Raulin, 2004
(Montclair)
Paul Wright was born in 1959 in Adelaide where
he began violin studies with Lyndall Hendrickson.
Three years later he was awarded a place at the
Yehudi Menuhin School in England. He went on
to study at the Guildhall School in London and
20
then to the Juilliard School in New York to study
under Ivan Galamian. He created and directs
Ensemble Arcangelo, a period instrument group
based in Perth. He is currently Director of String
Studies at the School of Music at the University
of Western Australia.
He has performed with ensembles in Australia
and the USA, including the Australian Chamber
Orchestra, Australian String Quartet, Australian
Brandenburg Orchestra and the Carmel Bach
Festival Orchestra in California. Paul has also
recorded and performed with Ensemble of the
Classic Era.
includes appearances with Ensemble Arcangelo
Sophie Gent
Violin Arthur Robinson, 1998
Sophie Gent graduated in Music from the
University of Western Australia, majoring in
violin as a student under Paul Wright. She
moved to the Netherlands to undertake
postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatoire
in The Hague with the renowned Japanese
Baroque violinist Ryo Terakado. She is now a
regular performer with many ensembles based
in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Sophie
has been a member of the Japan-based string
quartet Mito dellArco and is a regular guest
member of Masques, with whom she has
recently recorded a program of English consort
music on the Arion label.
Shaun Lee-Chen
Viola Gofriller, 1719
Shaun Lee-Chen completed a Bachelor of Music
degree at the University of Western Australia
School of Music in 2000 with First Class
Honours, studying violin with Paul Wright and Pal
Eder. He was the recipient of numerous prizes,
including the Lady Callaway Medal and the UWA
Graduates Prize for top graduating music
student. In 2001 he was accepted into the
Advanced Performance Program at the
Australian National Academy of Music in
Melbourne. Shauns performance experience
on Baroque violin and viola, solo and tutti
performances with the West Australian
Symphony Orchestra, a season with the
Australian Youth Orchestra and concerts with
numerous chamber ensembles.
Shaun Ng
Viola da gamba Sergio Gistri, 2000, after Nicolas
Bertrand, 1687
Born in Singapore, Shaun Ng has studied bass
viol with leading teachers in Vienna, Amsterdam,
The Hague and in the UK. In 2000 he formed
the Singaporean early music group Musica
Obscura and was appointed an Associate Artist
with Singapores first independent arts centre,
The Substation. He now lives in Perth, Western
Australia, studying and performing there and
elsewhere.
21
Suzanne Wijsman
Cello Ian Clarke, 2003, after Montagnana, 1721
Suzanne Wijsman received her musical
education in the USA and the UK. Her teachers
included Paul Katz, Jane Cowan, Steven Doane
and Richard Kapuscinski. The recipient of a
Fulbright Award, Suzanne has performed
extensively in the USA, Australia and Europe, in
chamber music or as recitalist. From 1990 to
1996 she played with the Stirling String Quartet,
which toured in Australia, Italy and South Korea,
and presented numerous ABC radio broadcasts.
Suzanne has performed often with Ensemble
Arcangelo, Western Australias premier early
music group, as well as in numerous local
chamber music concerts. She was a contributor
to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (2001) articles on the cello (18th-19th
centuries) and fingering; other research interests
include the early history of the violin family,
17th- and 18th-century historical performance
practice, musical iconography and musicians
health issues. She is a Senior Lecturer in the
School of Music, University of Western Australia.
Stewart Smith
Harpsichord Robert Deegan, 1982,
after Dulcken, 1745
Stewart Smith studied at the Royal Academy of
Music and at London University and graduated
with First Class Honours and with a masters
degree, winning many prizes along the way. In
Australia he is much in demand as a soloist and
accompanist and has performed at international
festivals in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide as
well as regional festivals thoughout the country.
As a harpsichordist and as an organist, he has
been broadcast many times on the ABC, and he
has appeared on various CD recordings as an
accompanist. Stewart was the assistant organist
to St Georges Cathedral in Perth and regularly
plays with the West Australian Symphony
Orchestra and with the early music group
Ensemble Arcangelo. He is a Senior Lecturer
and Coordinator of Classical Music at the
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
where, in addition to taking an active role in
teaching and research, he has conducted a
number of Baroque operas.
Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan
Recording Producer, Engineer and Editor
Thomas Grubb
Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb
Publications Editor Natalie Shea
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Cover Photo The Triumph of Bacchus (oil on canvas),
Charles Joseph Natoire (1700-1777) / Lauros /
Giraudon, Louvre, Paris, France / The Bridgeman
Art Library
Booklet Photos Paul Tunzi (pp2 and 10-11),
David McHugh (Fiona Campbell p19),
Suzanne Wijsman (p22)
A = 413
Temperament by Jean-Philippe Rameau
All the works in this series were recorded in the
chapel of St Ildephonsus at the Benedictine
Community in New Norcia, Western Australia. We
are grateful to the community for their cooperation
and support.
Recorded 14-18 October 2004 (Stuck) and
29 September - 3 October 2005 (Montclair).
 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in
Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group,
under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the
owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending,
diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record
without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.

This recording is part of a larger performance/

research project on French Baroque music funded by
the Australian Federal Government through the
award of an Australian Research Council Linkage
Grant, bringing together researchers from The
University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan
University with other Australian performers, in
association with ABC Classics as industry partner.
The team of investigators (Emeritus Professor David
Tunley, Dr Suzanne Wijsman, Paul Wright and
Stewart Smith) wish to acknowledge the assistance
of consultants Dr Robin Adamson (French language),
Dr Margaret Pride (vocal technique), Alan Bonds
(preparation of scores) and Paul Tunzi (keyboard
instrument technician).

Kate Clark with David Tunley

22 23