A portrait of the French singer Anne Chabanceau de La Barre (1628-1688)
Elisabeth Belgrano
voice
Lucas Harris
theorbo, lute
Carlene Stober
viola da gamba
Jennifer Ellis
voice
Aller où le sort vous conduit,
Il faut partir, adorable Amarante,
Bien loin, comme une étoile errant,
Vous brillerez au milieu de la nuit.
Pour moi, je veux jusqu'au trepas
Avoir l'honneur d'accomagner vos pas
Et de Chanter en tous lieux vos louanges,
Lorque d'une voix,
Comme celle des anges,
Vous ferez des lois.
Tristan L'Hermite
This recording was made possible by the generous support from Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
It is also the result of an exaination for a Master in Fine Arts in Music, Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Special thank's to my masters and mentors over the years: Jessica Cash, Jill Feldman, Emma Kirkby, Jakob Lindberg, Steven Stubbs, Harald Stenström & Catherine E. Gordon-Seifert. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following people, institutes and foundations that has advised, coached & supported me in connection to this particular project: College of Music in Göteborg, Brittmo & Göte Bernhardsson, Maria Berg, Souphie Boulin, Centre Culturel Suédois in Paris, Frank Cunningham, Scott Cadenasso, Diane Dantes, Anna Edwall, Anne-Madeleine Goulet, Laury Gutierrez, Lucas Harris, Fran & Dave Harris, Leif Henrikson, Elisabeth Kuhn, Cathy Liddell, Peter Lönnerberg, Catherine Massip and librarians at Biblioteque National in Paris, Drew Minter, Anna & Karl Nyhlin, Susan Patrick, Edith & Chester Pearlman, John Scherf, Jordan Schramek, Linda & John Shortridge, Carlene Stober, Andrew Volna, Kenneth Weiss, Anna Whitlocks Minnesfond, Willinska Stiftelsen, Erik och Lily Philipsons Stiftelse, Edvard Magnus Musikfond, Adelbertska Stipendiefonden, Stiftelsen Anna Ahrenbergs Fond för Vetenskapliga m. fl. ändamål, … and to all my friends & family!
I dedicate this recording to my wonderful parents, Margit & Jouko Laasonen, to my loving husband Andrea & to our sweet daughter Miranda Luna.
Elisabeth Belgrano September 2004
Recorded August 2003
Church of the Redeemer, Boston
Recording Producer: Drew Minter
Recording Engineer: Frank Cunningham
Editing and Mixing: Elisabeth Belgrano, Lucas Harris and Scott Cadenasso
Mastering: John Scherf
Cover Photo: © Ferdinando Villa
Liner Photos: © Esha Chiocchio (inspired by Charles Le Brun's Expressions of the Passions 1668
℗© 2004 Elisabeth Belgrano
Imagine yourself...
... being in Paris around 1650. You are invited to the house of Pierre Chabanceau de La Barre, organist and spinettist at the court of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. You are attending a 'Concert Spirituel' in the company of composers, poets, dukes and duchesses, counts and countesses, archbishops, bishops, marquises, and other illustious people. Mlle de La Barre is performing. Jacques de Gouy describes her in the following way: " ... et sur tous Mademoiselle de La Barre, que Dieu semble d'avoir choisie pour inviter à son imitation toutes celle de son sexe, à chanter les grandeurs de leur Createur, au lieu des vanitez des Creatures." (... and above all Mlle de La Barre, whom God seems to have chosen to invite all those of her sex to follow her in singing the glories of their Creator, instead of the vanities of earthly Creatures.)
Imagine yourself...
... watching this young woman, leaving Paris together with two brothers, during autumn of 1652. They were invited by Constantijn Huyghens, a diplomat, philosopher, poet and amateur composer, to his home outside the Haag. From here Anne and her brother Joseph continue the journey to their final destination - the court of Queen Christina of Sweden. As diarist Jean Loret recounts on 29 September 1652:
"... Mais, à propos de ce concert, / Mademoizelle de La Barre, / Dont la voix si nette e si rare / Passoit en douceur le gozier / D'un Rossignol sur un rozier. / S'en va porter dans la Suéde / Ce beau talant qu'elle posséde, / Dont elle enchantoit tour-à-tour / Tantôt Paris, tantôt la Cour. / O fille excélent et divine, / Dont la voix et la grande mine / Te feront aimer en tout lieu, Je te dis mille fois adieu! / Je croy qu'aux climats de Neptune / Tu ne courras nulle fortune, / Car, si les vents ou flots mutins / Vouloient faire illec les badins, / Tes chants, tes apas, ton vizage, / Auroient bien'tôt calmé l'orage."
(...whose voice so clear and so rare, surpasses in sweetness a nightingale's trills on a rose-bush, is taking to Sweden this beautiful talent that she possesses, by which she enchanted in turn Paris and the court. O excellent and divine maiden, whose voice and great appearance will make you loved everywhere, I say a thousand times farewell! I believe that on Neptune's waters, you will face no danger, for if the winds and the mutinous waves wanted to tease you there, your songs, your charms, your face, would soon calm the storm.)
She was born in an era when people searched for different ways to touch the most intimate parts of the soul. Music was considered by scholars to be the ultimate harmony of the universe. Philosophers as Descartes and Mersenne discussed the ideas of the ancient Greeks. It was also a time in Paris when men and women gathered in small academies "pour le bel esprit".
Anne Chabanceau de La Barre was also called "une rossignole sur un rossier" by the court diarist Loret. After undertaking some research around her life and carreer, more questions arise which as yet remain unanswered
She was born in Paris during 1628 (baptised on the 3rd July in Saint-Josse) into the family de La Barre, which had an important influence on the musical scene in Paris from the end of the 16th century.
As a young girl, Anne was exposed to a rich cultural and musical living. In 1647 when Italian composer Luigi Rossi came to Paris to stage his opera "Orfeo", he expressed his admiration for her excellent vocal interpretations. After enjoying music performed by Anne and her colleagues he said: "to make music pleasant for the ear, you will need Italian arias expressed through French mouths".
Anne grew up in an environment were new styles and patterns were found in music. Her father, being the organist of the Royal Chapel and the queen's spinettist, was in 1650 one of the first to organise public concerts in his home, "des concerts spirituels". Jacques de Gouy, describes these events and tells us that "the Lord seems to have chosen this young woman [Anne], as his equal (though a woman!) to singing the praise of his wonders, in front of mortals".
Anne performed at her father's concerts, but also at Court and during other ceremonies. Swedish Count Magnus Gabriel de La Gardie was sent to Paris in 1646 in order to find Queen Christina musicians for the Swedish court. This I believe could have been the way Anne de la Barre became known to Queen Christina. It could well have been that de La Gardie met with French court musicians while visiting the salons held in the city. Perhaps one of these was the "concerts spirituel" in the house of Pierre Chabanceau de La Barre.
Queen Christina invited Anne to her court in 1648 but it was not until the end of 1652 that Anne began the journey together with her two younger brothers Joseph and Pierre(v). They first stopped in Holland in The Hague as guests of Constantijn Huyghens. They were persuaded to stay and enjoy his home during the winter months and their departure must have taken place shortly after 12th February 1653, although at this stage Pierre decided to return to Paris to be with the father.
Their exact route is not known. It could well be that they sailed to Sweden, since the Dutch had an important trade with the countries to the North.
Due to outbreak of the pest in Stockholm, the Court had moved to Uppsala during the spring of 1654. On the 8th of February the English ambassador B. Whitelocke was invited for a concert in Uppsala Castle, or to be even more precise, in the chamber of the Queen. Afterward he wrote in his journal: "…to heare her majesty's musicke, which was very rare, and performed by divers italian eunuches, and others, her servants, and by madame de la Bare, a french woman, and her brother, who sang rarely well".
Anne was an enormous success. Being a woman and a well-trained singer in both French and Italian music, placed her in a luminous light along with the castratos that toured Europe at that time. In addition to this she was described as a very beautiful woman and a good dancer, which must have seduced Queen Christina.
It is not know exactly what prompted Anne and Joseph to make their journey as far as to the Nordic countries. Anne was certainly a brave and adventurous character with the love of discovering new territories and experiences. It could perhaps have been that Joseph was involved in diplomatic matters. Maybe his stay in Sweden wasn't only meant for entertaining the Queen with music and dancing? Christina was to convert from protestant to catholic, and she kept secret correspondence with important catholics in Europe such as Cardinal Mazarin. Joseph was in fact later appointed as Abbé in the Abbey Saint-Hilaire in Narbonne. Or what about love? Could Anne have been in love with somebody in Sweden? Maybe a musician, French or Italian? Or perhaps Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie himself became infatuated by her voice and her beauty?
Queen Christina abdicated in June 1654 and in August the Royal accounts showed that Anne received 5 ¼ carafe of German Rheine wine for her journey back to France.
The Danish Queen then decided to invite Anne and Joseph to her court. She did not want to be of less importance than the neighbouring Queen and this was a perfect opportunity. Although Anne and Joseph's stay in Denmark was shorter than the one in Sweden. It could be that Anne and Joseph were too expensive. Or perhaps the Danish wanted to follow the fashion European fashion and prefered to employ an Italian group of musicians. Maybe the weather was too harsh, since Joseph became ill in Denmark. For whatever reason they decided to head south through Kassel, invited by the Count William of Hessen. Anne and Joseph's arrival in Paris was loudly announced in December 1654.
Accustomed to the Parisian lifestyle once again, Anne reached the highest point in her career, while Jean-Baptiste Lully during the same period was making his first of composing French opera. He produced one court-ballet after another. In 1656, during the carneval, the "Ballet de La Galanterie de Temps" was performed and Anne, together with the Italian singer Signora Anna Bergerotti. They sang a dialogue, accompanied by the guitarist Francesco Corbetta, the two de la Barre brothers and "les petits violons".
In 1659 Anne and Signora Anna were again heard together in the "Ballet Royal d' Alcidiane". (It is known that Queen Christina was in the audience during one of the performances.) In the "Ballet Royal de la Raillerie" (1659) Lully is ironically playing with both Italian and French music. A dialogue was set between two entries and the two singers performed, each one of them in their own languages, styles and true spirits.
People were talking about Anne with warmth and admiration. She performed at the major events at the Court, and in 1661 she was awarded the prestigious and rare title "fille ordinaire de la chambre du Roy".
In 1662 Francesco Cavalli's opera "Ercole Amante" was performed. As the only French singer in the actual opera, Anne had two parts: "la Bellezza" and "l'Ombra de la Clerica Regina". Again, this point out her ability to perform in the Italian style.
Outside the glamorous encounters at the Court, Anne and some other singers performed at religious ceremonies. For example, at l'Eglise aux Feuillants, a monastery belonging to the Court, they performed together with Michel Lambert his "Leçons de Ténèbres".
Anne was still actively performing up to 1664 when she sang in "La Princesse d'Elide" at Versailles.
She met Antoine Coquerel and married in 1667. This seems to have ended her career at court, even though, shortly after marrying she became widow. She did however retain her title and stayed on the official pension list until her death, 21 years later, in 1688.
Un ferito Cavaliero - Queen Maria Eleonora'slament on the death of King Gustav Adolf [10:54]
Luigi Rossi
Rochers vous etes sourds
Vous n’avez rien de tender
Et sans vous ebranler
Vous mécoutez icy
L’Ingrat dont je me plains
Est un rochers aussi,
Mais helas il s’en fuit
Pour ne me pas entendre,
…
Ces voeux que tu faisois
Et don’t j’etois charmée
Que sont ils devenue
Lache et perfide amant?
Helas t’avoir aimé
toujours si tendrement
etoit une raison pour n’etre plus aimée
Rocks you are deaf,
you have nothing tender about you, And without even stirring,
You listen to me here.
The ingrate of which I complain
is a rock as well,
but alas, he fled,
so he do not hear me.
Those wishes you uttered
and by which I was charmed,
what happened to them,
cowardly and deceitful Lover?
Alas, to have loved you always
so tenderly,
was it the reason
that I am no longer loved.
Si l'amour vous soumet a ses loix, inhumaines,
choisessez en aimant un objet plein d'appas:
portez au moins de belles chaines
et puis qu'il faut mourir, mourez d'un beau trepas.
Si l'objet de vos feux ne merite vos peines
sous l'empire d'amour ne vous engages pas:
portez au moins de belles chaines
et puis qu'il faut mourir, mourez d'un beau trepas.
If love subdues you to his laws, inhuman, choose to love some object full of charm: make the chains you wear beautiful ones and since you must die, die a beautiful death.
If the object of your fire doesn't deserve your pains, under Love's empire do not engage yourself: make the chains you wear beautiful ones and since you must die, die a beautiful death.
Laissez durer la nuit,
impatiente Aurore,
Elle m'ayde à cacher
mes secrettes douleur,
Et je n'ay pas encore
Assez versé de pleurs;
Pour ma douleur, helas!
est il des nuits trop sombres?
Depuis que mon Berger
quitta ce beau sejour,
Ah! je ne puis souffrir,
le vif éclat du jour;
Laissez-moi donc pleurer
à la faveur des ombres
Autant que voudra mon amour.
Let night last yet awhile, impatient Dawn, She helps me hide my secret pains, And I have not yet shed tears enough; For my suffering, alas! can any night be too dark? Since my Shepherd left this beautiful place, Ah! I cannot bear the dazzling brilliance of the day; Let me then weep, under the cover of the shadows for as long as my love may wish it.
Parmy le verd naissant,
et les charmants ombrages
Flore brille dans nos boccages,
Il naist avec les fleurs
mille nouveax desirs,
Tout inspire l'amour,
Tout dispose aux plaisirs;
Mais, Bergere, je sens qu'une saison si belle
Ne sçauroit me plaire sans vous,
Et c'est vous qui donnez à la saison nouvelle
Tout ce qu'elle à pour moy de sensible et de doux.
Amid the burgeoning green, and the lovely charming areas, Flore is present in our woodlands, and with the flowers are born a thousand new desirs. Everything inspires love, Everything invites pleasures; Yet, shepherdess, I know that a such a lovely season won't be able to me without you, And that it's you who gives the new season All that is so exquisite and dear to me.
Ne crains point le serein,
Sirene de mon ame,
L'air ne fait point d'effort sur ta divinité.
Luminaire immortel,
arreste un peu ta flame,
Il n'en faut qu'un rayon
pour un grand jour d'esté:
Que di-je? Elle s'en va,
je la voy qui sommeille:
Adieu clarté des cieux,
Puis que Cloris, leur unique merveille,
N'a point d'oreille, la terre n'a point d'yeux.
Do not fear serenity, Siren of my soul, The air makes no contest to your divinity. Everlasting light, extinguish your flame for a while, only one ray is enough to warm a summer day: What am I saying? She is leaving I see her as in a dream: Farewell, fair skies, Since Chloris, their only rival has no ear, the earth has no eyes.
Con la candida man,
la man ardita,
Ch'Amor soverchio spinse Filli,
nel suo bel sen ferimmi e strinse.
Io ch'al dolce doler della ferita
Mi sentij l'anima dal cor,
dal cor rapita,
Con un finto che fai?
Filli che fai?
Baciai la sferza
e'l castigo l'adorai.
With the sweet hand, the burning hand, Love is tying strings to his heart, strings which hurts and presses. I feel, with great pain from the wound, as if the soul has been stolen form the heart. With a pull, what are you doing? Strings, what are you doing? You are kissing the belt and the punishment you are adoring.
Che rumore Sento fuore?
Hora sì, Pazzarello, sei tu quello
Che m'uccidi Co'tuoi stridi Notte e dì?
Non t'offenda, Caro Aminta, Voce spinta D'ira finta
Tra parenti Troppo attenti, Attenti Notte e di:
Che nel seno Il più sovente Dolcemente Sospirando
Ragionando Vò così: Caro Aminta, Fosti qui!
What a noise I hear outside? Is that you, you crazy, are you the one that kills me with you screams night and day? Do not be offended, dearest Aminta, False rumour will spread among the family, which are guarding night and day: As in the most eager heart, so Sweetly Sighing, Reasoning, wanting to say: Dearest Aminta, if you were.
Quand une ame est bien atteinte,
Elle n'est jamais sans crainte,
Sans douleur, & sans desirs:
Les soupcons, ou la contrainte,
Troublent ses plus doux plaisirs;
Tout gemit, & tout spoûpire,
Dans l'empire des amours,
Et cependent cét empire,
S'accroist tous les jours.
Rien n'est si rare en tendresse,
Qu'une sincere Maitresse,
Dont le cœur répond aux yeux:
Tour à tour chacun s'empresse
à qui trompera le mieux;
C'est la le commun langage,
De ceux qui craignent d'aymer,
Et cependent le plus sage,
Se laisse s'enflamer.
When a soul is really captured, it is never without fear, without pain and without desires: the suspicions or the constraints, troubles its sweetest pleasures; All is groaning and all is sighing, in the empire of Love, and meanwhile this empire, grows every day.
Nothing is as rare as the tenderness, of a sincere mistress, whose heart responds to the eyes: One after another wants to prove who will betray the best; That is the common language, of those who fear to love, and meanwhile the most wise, is giving in to the flames of Love.
Due labra di rose
Fan'guerr' al mio core.
E provi d'amore dolcezze ripose.
Savien che ridano.
A morte fidano.
Fuggi, fuggi mio cor,
Che più s'aspetta.
In quel labro ogni riso,
Ahi! che saetta!
Two red lips are fighting my heart. And the proofs of love are sweet rests. They happen to laugh. In death they trust. Flee, flee my heart, who is waiting for more. Ah what a sparkle! is every smile on those lips, Ah what a sparkle!
Ah, Rinaldo e dove sei?
Pur da me partir potesti,
Nel mio duol, ne i pianti miei,
posson far ch'il passo arresti.
Questa è la mercé, ch'à me tu dei.
Ahi chi sen vola lunge da me,
Ed io qui sola Scherno rimango di rotta fè.
Ferma Rinaldo, oh dio
Se morta è la tua fè, morta son'io.
Dunque il bel foco che t'arse già,
ceduto ha i loco a duro ghiaccio di ferita.
Deh torna, Idolo mio.
Se morta è la tua fè, morta son'io.
Ah, che spargo indarno gridi
voi che soste, ond'io mi moro.
Del mio ben, del mio tesoro.
Ciechi d'amore custodi infidi
Sparite, Svanite, Fuggite da me…
E voi moli incantate,
Ch'al fuggitivo non arrestase il pié.
Sparite, Svanite, Fuggite da me…
Ah, Rinaldo, now where are you? You could leave me, here with my suffering, and my tears, may they stop you in your tracks. And so this is the mercy that you give me.
Ah, fly you far away from me, while I remain here alone, the scorned remains of shattered trust. Stay Rinaldo, Oh God, If your trust is dead, I am dead as well.
So the sweet fire that once burned in you, has given way to hard, wounding ice. Oh, come back, my love If your trust is dead, I am dead as well.
Ah, I scatter vain shouts, all you who were, as I now die, the keepers of the false love of my life, my treasure. Disappear, vanish, flee from me.
And you enchanted powers, that in your flight won't slow your steps. Disappear, vanish, flee from me.
Vorrei scoprirti un di
con la piaga del cor
lo stral che mi ferì.
Ma celando l'ardore,
soffro solo a miei danni.
Per un ciel di bellezze,
un mar d'affanni.
E in si penoso stato tra continui sospiri
non si da pace.
Quel che parl il dolor
la lingua tace.
I would like to discover you one day. The arrow is causing a wound in my heart. But while I hide my desires, I suffer only for my deeds, since a beautiful sky is a sea of troubles. In such a painful state, during continuous sighs, there is no peace. He who speaks in pain, is being silent.
Un ferito cavlièro
di pólve di sudór di sangue aspèrso
l'anhèlante corsièro lassa,
ne sò s'a i piè cade
ò s'inchina de la Sveta Regina.
Dice: "L'Austriaco e'l Gòto
incèrto marte è periglioso stringe.
Io trafitto colà qui a morir vengo,
acciò del pianto tuo
gl'estrèmi uffici
habbia l'ucciso Rè.
Piangi del cièlo il torto,
piangi Règina, ohimè,
Gustavo è morto."
Sciolser cento Donzelle
i biondi crini
in un diluvio d'óro,
si percossero il viso
e à si funebre aviso
esclamò la Regina
con dolorose strida:
"Datemi per pietà un chè m'uccida….
O mio Signore e Rè
chi mi t'há tolto.
Barbara e fièra spada
chè'l suo sangue spargesti in caldo Rio,
deh, che non spargi il mio.
Dunque l'invitto regnator dell Orse
sotto il ferro di morte il capo inchina,
et io no'l vedrò più,
deposto l'elmo e'l martial rigore,
gioir del nostro amore e più non m'amera.
Datemi un che m'uccida, ahi per pietà….
Chi mi chiamò felice
incauta lingua errante,
se mi fece infelice un solo istante.
Ahi bugiarda Fortuna,
del tuo favor fallace
scender credevo io ben,
ma non cadére.
Ahi morte ahi sorte infida,
datemi per pietà, un chè m'uccida….
Ahimè, frà tante spade non inpetro una spada…
ma chè dico… chè parlo?
Dunque il Rè Gòto invendicato resta
di chi gli die la morte.
Sù sù mia gente forte Sveti,Goti e Biarmi
che dal Baltico mare al Reno algente
debellaste ogni gente,
terror del Mondo e fulmini di guerra,
sommergete la terra fra diluvi di sangue,
arda per le man vostre
ogni cittade ogni provincia abbruggi,
uccidete, ferite, non perdonate agl'empi,
al Germano feroce, al crudo Ibero, all'Italico andace.
Non si parli di pace!
Mà che vaneggio, ohimè,
vedova aflitta, abbandonata e sola,
frà nemici smarita,
à cui morte lasciò solo la vita.
Ucciso il mio Signor, chi pugnerà?
Datemi un che m'uccida, ahi per pietà….
Non mi lusinghi più l'esser Regina, nò
che Regina non è chi teme esser condotta in servitù.
Dunque il sangue Real del Gòto Impero
potrà privo di fasto patiente
soffrire di stranièro servaggio in giogo acerbo.
Deh perche più riserbo
quest'alma allo schernir dell'empie stelle.
Ah mie care donzelle
mi trafigga di voi chi m'è più fida.
Datemi per pietà, un chè m'uccida….
Ma se gl'ultimi accenti
d'un infelice misera che more,
ode il cielo pietoso,
oh Capitan crudele,
che de le doglie mie formi i trofei.
Facciano i preghi miei
che tù fatto superbo
contro il proprio Signor la spada cinga.
Poi protervo rubello
dell'Aquila Real fugghi l'artiglio
senza fè, senz'honor, senza consiglio
& t'uccida alla fine,
povero infermo e nudo
d'un gregario Guerrièro il ferro crudo.
Misero, mà, chè prò
per questo il mio Signor già non vivrà.
Datemi un che m'uccida, ahi per pietà…."
Qui tacque e flagelata dal duol mosse le piante
e furiando errò qual forsenata.
Mirò Fortuna e con sorriso al tero disse:
"Provi il mio sdegno, chi le speranze sue ponne l'Impero,
e si fida del Regno."
A wounded knight, covered in dust, in sweat, in blood, abandons his exhausted horse, I don't know if his foot is sliding or if he's kneeling in front of the Swedish Queen. He is saying:
" The Austrian and the Goth are firmly kept by the God of War, I was wounded and I came here to die so that the murdered King can have the blessing of you tears. Cry for the unfair heaven. Cry Queen, Alas, Gustavo is dead."
A hundred virgins are loosing up their blond curls. They cover the face and with this dismal news the Queen burst in to painful cries
" Give me out of mercy, someone to kill me.
Oh, my master and king, who has taken you away from me? Barbarous and proud sword that made his blood pour into a warm flood, ah, then why not take mine as well. The Ruler of the Bears is bending his head under the sword of death, and I won't see him again, since he put down his helmet and martial strength, I won't enjoy our love, he will never again love me. Give me one who can kill me, ah, for pity’s sake.
The one who calls me happy, is a wrongly careless tongue. If I can become so unhappy in such a single instance, Ah, you untruthful Fortune, I thought that your good had diminished, but not completely fallen. Ah, death, Ah, treacherous fate, give me for pity’s sake, one who can kill me…
Alas, among all the swords can’t I obtain even one sword, but what am I saying, what words do I speak? Thus the King of the Goths does remain unavenged againts the one who gave him death. Arise, arise my strong people, Swedes, Goths and Biarmi who, from the Baltic Sea to the freezing Rhine, conquer every people, terror of the world and lightening of war: submerge the earth with floods of blood, may every town burn at your hands, may every province burn; kill, wound, do not forgive the wicked ones: the ferocious German, the crude Spaniard, the audacious Italian, do not speak of peace.
But what am I’m raving, alas, a grief-stricken widow, abandoned and alone lost among enemies, to whom death has left only life; with my lord killed, who will take up the fight? Give me one who can kill me, ah, for pity’s sake.
I no longer flatter myself that I’m a queen, for she’s not a queen who fears being led into servitude. Thus the royal blood of the Gothic empire, without it’s pride, will know how to patiently suffer the bitter yoke of foreign slavery. Oh, why do I keep this soul, in the face of the mockery of the wicked stars?, Ah, my dear maidens, may the most faithful of you run me through, give me, for pity’s sake, one who can kill me.
But if these last words of an unhappy, miserable who’s dying, can awaken the pity with the heavens, oh, Cruel Captain, who makes trophies of my pains, may my prayers make you, now in your pride, gird your sword against your own lord; then may you, wayward rebel, flee the talons of the Royal Eagle without faith, without honour, without counsel and may you finally be killed, poor, infirm, and naked, by the raw iron of a common soldier. Misery, but to what end? For all this, my lord will not come back to life. Give me one who can kill me, ah, for pity’s sake.
Here she is silent and overcome with pain, moved by tears, and in fury she walks as a madwoman, looks upon Fortune and with a haughty smile she says: Let the one who has laid his hopes in the Empire, and trusts the Realm, feel my disdain.
Writings by Loret, the courtdiarist, and his contemporaries, during the years between 1650-1675 about Anne Chabanceau de La Barre:
1652 – 29th September:
Mademoizelle de la Barre, / Dont la voix si nette et si rare / Passoit en douceur le gozier / D'un rossignole sur un rozier, / S'en va porter dans la Suède / Ce beau talent qu'elle posséde, / Don’t elle enchantoit tour-à-tour / Tantôt Paris, tantôt la Cour.
1654 – 12th December:
Mademoizelle de la Bare, / Qui passe ou du mois contrecare, / Par la douceur de ses accens, / Les chantres les plus ravissans, / Ayant chez l'illustre Cristine / Fait admirer sa voix divine, / Et pluzieurs fois rempli sa Cour / D'admiration et d'amour, / Et mesme êté récompensée, / Loüée, aimée et caressée, / Avec une extrême bonté, / Mille fois de sa Majesté, / Voyant que cette Reine sage, / Ne vouloit plus tenir ménage, / Elle a fait retraite, d'abord, / Chez une autre reine du Nord, / Assavoir la reine Danoize, / Civile, obligeante, courtoize, / Et dont les mérites divers / Sont prizez par tout l'Univers; / Cette reine charmante et belle / A tant d'afection pour elle, / Que dans cette agréable cour / Elle fera quelque séjour.
1654 - 19th December:
….. je souhaitois en ce concert, / Pour un doux et friand dessert, / La voix nett, charmante et rare / De l'unique et belle la Barre, / Don’t j'ay toûjours quelque soucy, / et celle de son frère aussy, / Qu'on tiens avoir de l'excellence / En cette angélique science; / Mais j'ay scue par un nommé Marc / Qu'il est malade en Danemarc.
1655 – 11th December:
La Barre, cette aimable fille, / Et la moitié de sa famille, / Ayant trois ans et quelque mois,/ Charmé par ça céleste vois, / Dont les douceurs sont égales, / Pluzieurs Cours Septentrionales, / Brûlant, pour son pays, d'amour, / A pressé son heureux retour; / Et cette agréable Merveille, / Tant pour les Yeux, que pour l'oreille, / Augmente aujourd'huy, par son prix, / Les rares Trézors de Paris.
1655 - 19th April
…..O la Barre, ô charmante Fille, / Qui dans le nord maintenant brille, / La comblat de joye et d'amour, / Une heureuze et royale Cour. / …..
1656 – 5th February, Mazarin receives the court:
…..La Barre, cette belle illustre, / Qui donne aux airs un si beau lustre, / En fit, par un récit charmant, / Admirer le commencement; / …..
1656 – 19th February, Le balet des Galanteries:
….. Il ne manque point d'harmonie; / Au contraire, la Symphonie / De plus de vingt-cinq Instrumans, / Et les récit doux et charmans / De La Barre, et de Signore Anne, / Ravissoient tout, ou Dieu me danne.
1656 - 22nd April, Les lecons des Ténèbres (Wednesday in Easterweek) in the Eglise aux Feuillants:
Cette Cour, telle que je dy, / Fut le jour du Saint Mercredy / Aux Feuillans, oüyr les Ténébres, / où, les Chantres les plus célébres, / Violes, clavessins et luts, / Chantans Psalmes, Motets, Saluts, / Hymnes, Antiennes, Cantiques, / Firent des Concerts de Muzique / Certes, assez mélodieux / Pour contenter la Cour des Dieux: / Mais, surtout, trois voix féminines, / Bien moins humaines que divines, / Par leurs beaux et célestes sons / Animérent fort les Lecons / Durant, presque, une heur et demie, / De feu Monsieur saints Hierémie. / La Barre, tout premiérement, / Excita grand ravissement, / Avec cette voix sans-pareille, / Qui sort de sa bouche vermeille. /…
1657 – 7th April, Les lecons des Ténèbres (Wednesday in Easterweek) in the Eglise aux Feuillants:
….. Et pour les premiéres lecons, / Contenans tant de piteux sons, / Elles eurent pour chanterelles / Trois incomparables Fémelles; / Scavoir La-Barre, qui, jadis, / Comme un Ange du Paradis, / Ravissoit les Ames Royales, / Dans les Cours septentrionales, / Par ses harmonieux frédons / Que maintenant nous possédons. / …..
1658 – 16th February, Ballet d'Alcidiane:
….. Outre ce Concert merveilleux / Qui ravit les plus pointilleux, / Quatre beaux Récits de Muzique, / Dont chacun semble être Angélique, / Au gré des Auditeurs contens, / S'y font oüir en divers temps. / Pour emplifier ces nouvelles, / Voicy les noms de ceux et celles / Par qui les Vers furent chantez, / Dignes, certes, d'être exaltez. / La Barre, cette illustre Fille, / Dans les yeux de laquelle brille / Je ne scay quoy de si charmant, / Qu'un Dieu, mesme, on seroit Amant./ …..
1659 – 22nd February, Ballet de la Raillerie:
…..La Barre, cette autre merveille, / Autant des yeux, que d'oreille, / Plus que jamais, par ses acords, / Charma toute la cour, alor. / …..
1661 – 19th February, Ballet de l'Impatience:
….. Et par l'admirable La Barre, / Sur qui peu de Filles ont barre, / Soit pour enchanter, en l'oyant, / Ou pour charmer en la voyant! /…..
1661 – 23rd April, Ténèbres aux Feuillents:
….. Là, trois aimables Demoizelles, / Trois ravissentes Chantarelles, / Contentérent, à qui mieux, mieux, / La Cour et la Cour des Cieux; / Les accens sortans de leurs bouches / touchérent les coeurs plus farouche, / Et ces trois angélique voix / Qui m'ont atendry mille fois, / Et don’t j'en ai deux pour amies, / Firent si bien les Jérémies, / Que ce beau Choeur fut admiré, / Et, surtout, au au convertere.
(Mademoizelle de la Barre, Madem. de Cercamanan, et Mademoizelle Hilaire)
1662 – 11th February, the opera "L'Ercole Amante" by F. Cavalli and with it's ballet de cour by J.-B. Lully:
….. Et La Barre pareillement, / Don’t la voix plaît infiniment, / Et don’t la personne excellent / La Beauté mesme représent / (Assez convenable rolet) / Dans ce beau poëme, ou Balet; / Lequel poëme s'intitule / En Francois, Les Amours d'Hercule, / Et dans sa naturalité / Se nomme Ercolé Amanté / …..
1663 – 31st March, Ténèbres aux Feuillants:
…..Les quatre voix, encor fort belles, / De quatre aimables Demoizelles / Dont les noms sont moulez, icy, / Tenoient for bien leur place, aussy, Dans cette illustre Académie,
Faizans lamenter Hiéremie / Avec des roulemens si doux / Qu'elles charmoient les coeurs de tous: / J'en fut témoin auriculaire; / Leurs noms, c'estoient la Barre, Hilaire, / Saint-Chrisophe, et Cercamanan, / A qui Dieu, bon-jour, bon-an, / Et que je puis, dans ce chapitre, / Apeller par un nouveau Titre, / En les exaltans à leur tour, / Les Rossignoles de la Cour.
1663 – 20th January, Ballet des Arts:
Outre la parfaite harmonie / D'une admirable synfonie, / Don’t Baptiste, esprit transcendant, / Estoit Chef et Sur-Intendant, / Quatre Filles, qui sont de celles / qu'on admir pour Chanterelles, / Firent alternativement / Goûter un doux contentement / Par les voix claires et seraines, / Plûtôt Angéliques qu'humaines, / Et don’t, par curiozité, / Tu peu voir les noms à coté. /…..
( Mesdamoizelles de S. Christophe, Hilaire, de Cercamanan et de la Barre.)
1664 – 19th April, Ténèbres aux Feuillants
…..Mais, sur-tout, au nombre du trois, / Ces belles et charmantes voix / Cercamanan, la Barre, Hilaire, / Toutes si digne de plaire, / Avec de doux et tristes sons, / Chantans les premiéres Lecons, / Par led divins frédons qu'ils firent / Tous les coeurs dévot atendrirent, / Cauzans un grand ravissement, / Soit ensemble ou séparément: / Chacune de ces trois est rare, / Mais ce jour, l'aimable la Barre / eut, certainement, le bon-heur / De remporter bien de l'honneur.
1664 – 10th May, Les Plasirs de l'Isle enchantée; Le mariage forcé; La princesse d'Elide:
Le second jour, la Comédie / Par le Sieur de Mollière ourdie, / Où l'on remarquera pleinement / Grand esprit et grand agrément, / (Cet Autheur ayant vent en poupe) / Ocupa, tant luy que sa Troupe, / Avec de célestes Récit / A toucher les plus endurcis, / Animez des douceurs divines / De deux rares voix féminines, / Qui sont, comme j'ay dit un jour / Les Rossignoles de la Cour, Que personne de contrecarre, / Assevoir l'Hilaire et de al Barre.
1664 – 2nd August, (reception en l'honneur du Légat du Pape)
….. Ces deux Filles qui pqr leurs voix / Ont charmé la cour tant de fois, / Scavoir Mademoizelle Hilaire, / Qui ne scauroit chanter sans plaire, / Et La-Barre, qui plainement / Dompte les coeurs à tout moment, / Par le rare et double avantage / De son chant et de son vizage, / Joüérent si bien leaur rolet / Dans la piéce et dans le Balet, / Remplis d'agréable mélanges, / Que, certainement, leurs voix d'Anges / Furent dans ces contentemens / Un de plus doux ravissemens.
