Sémélé
for tenor (or soprano) and theorbo
[text (French): Isabelle Balot]
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Recording: Jim Smith, theorbo and Jimmy Brown, tenor
Duration: ca. 3′00″
Composed: 1996/2002
Sémélé is the third song of a cycle that I wrote for Isabelle Balot, based on her poetry, in 1996. It was originally scored for tenor and piano trio.
Ode à Sémélé
Sémélé, je ferai un coussin pour ta tête
Incrusté de trésors et d’ambre délicat;
Pour toi j’accrocherai des cheveux de comète
Au front de soleils d’or venus du Sahara.
Sémélé, je boirai de ton regard d’ambroise
L’or pur pur qui y jaillit en sable lumineux.
Pépite ou étincelle, alcool ou miel d’armoise,
Sémélé, je boirai la source de tes yeux.
Sémélé je saurai, sur fond d’une aube tendre,
Mordorer l’horizon des reflets de ton oeil
Pour toi je serai Roi dans un habit de cendre
Pour toi j’abdiquerai la raison et l’orgeuil.
—Isabelle Balot (1996)
Ode to Sémélé
Sémélé, I will make a cushion for your head
With treasures and delicate amber inlaid;
For you will I hang a comet’s mane
On the golden suns of the Sahara.
Sémélé, I will drink from your gaze of ambrosia
The pure gold that flows forth in luminous sand.
Nugget or spark, liqueur or honey of armoise,
Sémélé, I will drink from the wellspring of your eyes.
Sémélé, I will know, against the backdrop of a tender dawn,
How to gild the horizon with reflections from your eyes
For you I will be King in a robe of ashes
For you I will give up reason and pride.
