“À Chloris” (To Chloris)

• “À Chloris” is a song (mélodie) for voice and piano¹ to a text by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626).²
• “À Chloris” was first published in 1916.³
• Listen for: neo-Baroque style (ornamentation, repeating bass line), to match the time period of the poem.⁴
• Graham Johnson suggests that Hahn built this song on the bass line from the Bach work known as “Air on the G String.”⁵
• Song Text: (English trans. by Richard Stokes)

If it be true, Chloris, that you love me,
I do not believe that even kings
Can match the happiness I know.
Even death would be powerless
To alter my fortune
With the promise of heavenly bliss!
All that they say of ambrosia
Does not stir my imagination
Like the favour of your eyes!

Théophile de Viau

1. Patrick O’Connor, “Hahn, Reynaldo,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 17, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000012169.
2. “A Chloris,” Oxford Lieder, accessed October 17, 2019, https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/2530.
3. “À Chloris (Hahn, Reynaldo),” IMSLP, accessed March 10, 2020, https://imslp.org/wiki/%C3%80_Chloris_(Hahn%2C_Reynaldo).
4. Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukie, WI: Hal Leonard, 2006), 211.
5. Graham Johnson, “À Chloris,” Hyperion, accessed March 10, 2020, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W1393.