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View Image(s): Chantilly, 1773, Compare
Image Metadata:
Image Description:
Plate Signature: “LeBarbier inv. / Masquelier S”
Artist: “Lebarbier, Jean Jacques François”
Engraver: “Masquelier, Louis Joseph, I”
Year:
Inscription: “Aime Iris, dit l’amour, puisqu’elle a sçu te plaire / Ma foi l’Amour sur cette affaire / Raisonne mieux que la raison.”
Keywords: clouds court dress courtship Cupid (Roman deity) day (time of day) exterior fans (costume accessories) fog gardens (open spaces) grasses (plants) Ionic order Pinus (genus) Populus (genus) pot plants sky stairs trees tricornes upper class urns wings (animal components)
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General Metadata:
Group Page Range: Vol. 4, 32-36
Title Page Inscription: “LA / RAISON / DERAISONABLE”
Published Notes:
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View Score(s): 1773
Song 1 recording: La raison n’est pas raisonnable
Credit: Paul McMahon, tenor
Amy Moore, soprano
Erin Helyard, harpsichord (French double by Carey Beebe after Blanchet, 1991)
Temperament: Jean-Henri Lambert, 1774, A:392
Song 1 diction recording:
Credit: Eighteenth-century diction prepared and declaimed by Linda Barcan with the assistance of Erin Helyard and Veronique Duche
Music Metadata:
Song 1 Description:
In this chanson, Laborde shows off his considerable talents as a composer of opéra comique. In a fast contredanse style, this is a particularly well-constructed song, with effective use of pedal-points for extending phrases. The final parts of the song have the melody moving in unison with the bass, which creates the characteristically “open” sonority for which many of the opéra comique composers (like Grétry) were renowned for. The contrasting middle of this chanson is set effectively in the relative minor, in order to paint the lovesick cries of the protagonist.
Song 1 Composer: [Laborde, Jean-Benjamin de]
Song 1 Key Signature: F
Song 1 Time Signature: 2^4
Song 1 Expression Marks: Presto
Song 1 Tessitura of Voice: f1-bb2
Song 1 Tessitura of Instrument: C-bb2
Song 1 Strophic: Non-strophic
Song 1 Related Compositions:
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Song 1 Transcription:
La raison n’est pas raisonnable
bien fou bien fou, qui s’en laisse charmer
elle me dit que vous êtes aimable,
et me deffend Iris de vous aimer,
elle me dit que vous êtes aimable
et me deffend de vous aimer,
elle me dit que vous êtes aimable,
et me deffend, Iris de vous aimer,
et me déffend Iris de vous aimer,
et me déffend Iris de vous aimer;
aime Iris, dit l’amour puis qu’elle a sçu te plaire,
aime Iris, dit l’amour puis qu’elle a sçu te plaire,
profite des beaux jours de ta belle saison,
ma foi l’amour sur cette affaire
raisonne mieux que la raison,
ma foy l’amour sur cette affaire
raisonne mieux, bien mieux que la raison,
ma foy l’amour raisonne mieux que la raison,
ma foy l’amour raisonne mieux que la raison.
Text Metadata:
Song 1 Text Description:
Song 1 Incipit: La raison n’est pas raisonnable
Song 1 Author: “La Motte, M. de (Antoine Houdar)”
Song 1 Text Keywords:
Sources that refer to song 1 text: Aiken, Essays on Song Writing, 1772, 199-200
Sources that song 1 text refers to:
