As his admirers are well aware, Duparc was a gifted composer who might have produced a substantial output containing many masterpieces. But he stopped composing at the age of 36, leaving only a handful of songs and a few other works to comprise his entire legacy. This Elégie is among his better songs, all of which are well-crafted pieces that rival the best vocal music of their time. For this effort, Duparc fashioned a text after Irish poet Thomas Moore, who was writing on the death of his friend, countryman, and patriot Robert Emmet (1778-1803). The song is dark and funereal, but features a main theme that is beautiful in its lovely melancholy and in its rich, Rachmaninov-auguring Romanticism. Harmonies in the accompaniment, especially in the piano version, are vaguely Lisztian in their combination of gloom and consolation. The theme takes on a more Romantic character in the middle section, where it soars heavenward but cannot dispel the heartrending sense of loss as the text speaks of remembering Emmet (not mentioned by name), who was hanged for his role in a rebellion. Lasting about three minutes, this masterwork will appeal to most lovers of serious song.

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