2. Haidé: Quan me desvetllo a la nit

Vídeo amb la partitura i la pronunciació dels textos

Haidé - Based on poems by Joan Maragall (1860-1911)

 

This cycle of music for poems by Joan Maragall which Narcís Bonet wrote between the ages of sixteen and eighteen had to wait half a century between two opus before being sung in public and Narcís dedicating it to me. One day, talking together about the poet Joan Maragall, the music Narcís had composed many years previously somehow made its way to the piano’s music stand and, reading it alongside its creator, I found the piece as fascinating as I found Narcís himself.

From that moment onwards, Haidé accompanied us in all our concerts.

In 2001, for our tenth wedding anniversary, Narcís Bonet orchestrated the cycle and we performed it at the Palau de la Música Catalana (the prestigious Catalan music concert hall in Barcelona), with Narcís conducting and myself singing.
A few years later, we rediscovered a choral piece composed for another poem from the Haidé collection in Narcís’s archives which had been written before the cycle of three songs mentioned above. The four pieces were performed together on three occasions with a choir and piano. For this reason, we are also including this choral piece, titled Quan me desvetllo a la nit (When I Lay Awake at Night), in this collection of piano songs, although it is optional whether the listener wants to consider it as part of the Haidé cycle of three songs.

The music Narcís wrote for Haidé allows the singer to express four distinct emotions of love in a short time. The first part, sung with freshness, the second, a lyrical recitative zealously sung, the third, a plea from inside, and finally, the choral part represents love overcoming the separation of bodies.

This cycle inspired my series of Haidé sculptures of female figures which I dedicated to my husband and to the poet Joan Maragall.

Hélène Bonet-Giraudier