Moonlight: The Sleeping Beauty Project

Welcome back to week 2 of the Sleeping Beauty Project release. This week’s song is “Clair de lune” by Fauré. I really wanted to have some fun and add props to my limited environment. When I read this poem, I imagine an elegant party in a garden during a full moon. The text describes people interacting with each other in masks, while singing and playing the lute. There is a fountain nearby with birds up in a tree’s branches. In my interpretation, I give Sleeping Beauty a chance to experience how life has changed since she was put under the sleeping spell.

I love when I am able to add costumes or props because it makes me feel like I’ve become the character that I’ve developed in my mind. It’s a little awkward to sing with a mask that covers half your face, but I wanted to show that while Sleeping Beauty is present at this party, she feels like she’s not being her true self. Her mask is removed when she addresses the moonlight directly (Au calme clair de lune triste et beau).

As I mentioned in my last blog, Aurora (sleeping beauty) has darker and more mature attire for this song; reflecting that she is older and the season has changed. I’ll post the song text with translation below. Any guesses what the third and final song of this art song trilogy will be???

Clair de lune                                                                  Moonlight

Votre âme est un paysage choisi                                       Your soul is a rare landscape
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques              Charmed by masks and bergamasks
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi                                  Playing the lute and dancing, and almost
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.                   Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.

 Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur                            While singing in the minor key
L’amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,                          Of victorious love and the good life,
Ils n’ont pas l’air de croire à leur boneur                        They do not seem to believe in their happiness,
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune.                        And their song blends with the moonlight.

Au calm eclair de lune triste et beau,                             With the calm moonlight, sad and beautiful,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres                         That makes the birds dream in the trees,
Et sangloter d’extase les jets d’eau,                                 And the fountains sob with rapture,
Les grands jets d’eau sveltes parmi les marbres.             The tall slender fountains among the marble statues.