Chant de ceux qui s'en vont sur mer
by Camille Saint-Saens
SSATB - Sheet Music

SSATB Choir, Piano

SKU: CA.926300

Composed by Camille Saint-Saens. Arranged by Denis Rouger. Carus digital: Extra digital products. Full Score. Composed 1868. Duration 3 minutes. Published by Carus Verlag (CA.926300).

ISBN 9790007261733. Key: E minor. French. Text: Victor Hugo.

In the swirling piano part you can hear the storm raging. In the midst of the raging waves and the dark tide, the sailor, filled with despair, thinks of everything which is near and dear to him and of what he fears losing. In his mind's eye he sees his house, his beloved, and people he loves. But his home is far away, and the sky black, not "azure". He veritably cries out his pain at parting and his fear: "Farewell, fatherland, the waves are raging. Farewell, fatherland, azure!"
This work was composed as an art song for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has skilfully adapted it to suit the needs and expressive possibilities of a larger ensemble, without losing any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The song has been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD "Kennst du das Land ..." (Carus 83.495).