Les chansons des roses (The Songs of Roses)

• Lauridsen’s Les chansons des roses (The Songs of Roses) is a lyrical choral setting of five of Rainer Maria Rilke‘s poems from Les roses:
  1. En une seule fleur (In a single flower)
  2. Contre qui, rose (Against whom, Rose)
  3. De ton rêve trop plein (Of your dreams overrun)
  4. La rose complète (Perfect Rose)
  5. Dirait-on (So they say)
• Lauridsen’s sensual and contemplative musical settings capture the beauty of Rilke’s text. The fifth song, “Dirait-on,” is particularly popular among choral ensembles, and interestingly, it was the first piece of the set that Lauridsen wrote.¹

 “In his Les chansons des roses, Lauridsen translates the poet’s love for roses into rapturous music that entwines its way throughout the trellis of the listener’s memory.”

Byron Adams

Read the English translations of the five Rilke poems used in Les chansons des roses here.

1. Byron Adams, Notes in accompanying booklet, Morten Lauridsen: Nocturnes & other choral works performed by Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton, Hyperion 67580, 2007, compact disc.