R J Dent’s translations of three Charles Baudelaire poems are song lyrics in The Baudelaire Songs, a new three-song-cycle composed by Finnish composer, Outi Tarkiainen.
The Baudelaire Songs (2009-2013)
Composed by Outi Tarkiainen
A three-song-cycle for soprano and piano
Songs: 1. The Albatross; 2. The Abyss; 3. Obsession
Publisher: Uusinta
Nurmes, Finland, 26th April 2013
The three poems used in The Baudelaire Songs (The Albatross, The Abyss, Obsession) are taken from The Flowers of Evil (ISBN-10: 0-9799847-7-7 & ISBN-13: 978-0-9799847-7-8) by Charles Baudelaire, translated into English by R J Dent:
The Baudelaire Songs are three of the tracks on Outi Tarkiainen’s album, Beyond Poems, available in all audio formats:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Poems-Chamber-Music-Tarkiainen/dp/B07C5BNYW9
The Albatross
Often, for amusement, the sailing crew
catch that bird of the seas, the albatross;
companion on our voyage, it follows
the ship as it slides through the sea’s abyss.
When it has been dumped, this once-great sky king,
awkward and ashamed, onto the ship’s boards,
it pitifully drags its great white wings
along its feathered sides like useless oars.
This graceful voyager through shades of blue,
once beautiful, is now clumsy and weak;
one sailor mocks the cripple who once flew,
another stubs a pipe out on his beak.
The poet is just like this prince of clouds;
beyond range, above storms – these are his haunts;
exiled on Earth amidst a jeering crowd,
his giant wings won’t permit him to walk.
Copyright © R J Dent 2009
The Abyss
Pascal had his abyss that followed him.
Everything is abyss: action, desire, dream – word.
I feel the wind of fear pass frequently
through my thick hair, which often stands on end,
up and down, everywhere, into the depths,
through silence, space, captivation, ugliness…
During my nights, a god with clever hands
draws never-ending multi-shaped nightmares
and I’m afraid of sleep – it’s a big hole
full of horrors that lead to the unknown.
Windows show me infinity. Seeing
it, my hurt mind suffers from vertigo.
How I envy the sense of nothingness;
I’m never free of numbers or of beings.
Copyright © R J Dent 2009
Obsession
The great woods frighten as cathedrals do;
they shriek their organ shrieks from their cursed hearts,
death-rattles sound in their grief chambers too –
an echo’s de profundis counterpart.
The ocean’s depths and waves and tides remind
me of the bitterness of victory
over all men; their humiliation
can be heard in the laughter of the sea.
I love the starless night – it pleases me;
no stars to speak the only language known
in a sky that is bare, dark and empty;
a black canvas on which are now painted
a thousand images straight from my mind;
all vanished ones, with looks I recognise.
Copyright © R J Dent 2009
The Baudelaire Songs being performed in 14.8.2015 at the Festival d’Uzerche, France:
Piano: Paul Beynet
Soprano: Sanna Heikkinen