Work

Joseph Canteloube Composer

Oï Ayaï (Oh! yayaï), folksong for voice & orchestra (Chants d'Auvergne, Series 4, No.2)

Performances: 1
Tracks: 1
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Musicology (work in progress):
  • Oï Ayaï (Oh! yayaï), folksong for voice & orchestra (Chants d'Auvergne, Series 4, No.2)
    Year: 1923-30

This song from the Auvergne region, arranged and orchestrated by Canteloube, has many of the patterns of a childrens' game song—strong repetition, silly story line, and a bouncy, dance-like rhythm. However, the song provides challenges for an interpreter, in creating and sustaining characterization.

The first verse opens with Morgot lamenting, "Oh, dear, dear, I don't have a hat!" Pierrou goes to the fair, buys her a hit, brings it to her, and pleads with her to get up, it's morning! In the second verse, she gets a petticoat out of this arrangement, and in the third, a chemise. Each verse repeats her "Oh, dear, dear" lament and Pierrou goes to the fair, Pierrou buys her a whatever, Pierrou brings it back, Pierrou gives it to her, and pleads with her to get up.

In the last verse, she realizes she's cold, gets up, puts on the chemise, the petticoat, her bodice, her kerchief, her panties, and the hat, and the song ends with a playful bang on the percussion instruments.

Morgot's lines when she sings about not having whatever garment she's planning to get out of Pierrou, are slow and langorous, the narrator's lines are brisk and quick, and Pierrou's are appropriately plaintive, providing many interpretive possibilities for the singer.

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