Work

Joseph Canteloube Composer

Lou Boussu (Le bossu), folksong for voice & orchestra (Chants d'Auvergne, Series 3, No.3)

Performances: 1
Tracks: 1
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Musicology (work in progress):
  • Lou Boussu (Le bossu), folksong for voice & orchestra (Chants d'Auvergne, Series 3, No.3)
    Year: 1923-30

This is one of the most moving of the folks songs from the Auvergne that Joseph Canteloube arranged. The lyrics, in the langue d'oc, the language used by the troubadors, tell the story in only ten lines, with a repeating refrain, but the orchestration, added by Canteloube, add immense levels of detail and characterization, in a manner that recalls the Romantic composers. The song displays the strong spirit of pride and independence that often appears in the Chants d'Auvergne. The song's title translates "the hunchback, " and describes the encounter between a hunchback and a girl, Dzanetou (pronounced Jeanne-tu). She is resting in the shade of an apple tree, and the hunchback passes, and asks her to be his. She replies that he had better cut off his hump, and he tells her he's keeping his hump. The lyrics are simple and repetitive (only the first two lines of each verse is original), the last three lines are repetitions of the second), and the vocal line is almost a monotone, but the orchestration, as noted above, is dramatic and almost operatic, in the hunchback's plea and his angry response to her mockery.

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