Thursday 11 October 2012

A 'new' Rudel song...

Edmond Rostand’s rendition of the Rudel legend, La Princesse Lointaine, features several lyrics written by Rostand but attributed to his fictionalised Goffroy. The original production must have set this to a melody of some kind; but a century later, it seems there’s a new one.

An album by the French singer-songwriter Michel Melchionne (Le rêve est le pain de ma vie) features a song entitled ‘La Princesse Lointaine’, which is credited to ‘Edmond Rostand / Michel Melchionne’.  

Though I haven’t heard it yet, Melchionne’s song probably uses the lyric from Act I Scene IV (for those of you following along at home) which begins:
C'est chose bien commune
De soupirer pour une
Blonde, châtaine ou brune
Maîtresse,

Lorsque brune, châtaine.
Ou blonde, on l'a sans peine.
— Moi, j'aime la lointaine
Princesse !

...and ends:

Le seul rêve intéresse.
Vivre sans rêve, qu'est-ce?
Et j'aime la Princesse
Lointaine!
More information via this youtube page...