Les nuits d'été facts for kids
Les nuits d'été (which means Summer Nights), Op. 7, is a famous group of songs by the French composer Hector Berlioz. It's called a song cycle because all six songs are connected. Berlioz wrote these songs using beautiful poems by Théophile Gautier. He finished them in 1841.
About the Music
Initially, Berlioz wrote these songs for a singer with just a piano playing along. The singer could have a deep voice (like a baritone or contralto) or a medium voice (like a mezzo-soprano). Later, Berlioz changed the music. He made it for a higher voice, a soprano, and arranged the accompaniment for a full orchestra.
The first song he changed for orchestra was L'Absence. He did this for a singer named Marie Recio. She traveled with him on a concert tour in Germany. All six songs were published in their orchestral version in 1856. This is how the work is almost always performed today.
The Six Songs
The Summer Nights song cycle includes six different songs. Each one tells a story or expresses a feeling from Théophile Gautier's poems. Here are their titles:
- Villanelle (Villanelle)
- Le spectre de la rose (The spectre of the rose)
- Sur les lagunes (On the lagoons)
- Absence (Absence)
- Au cimetière (In the cemetery)
- L'île inconnue (The unknown island)
Images for kids
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Hector Berlioz in 1845
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Théophile Gautier in 1839
See also
In Spanish: Las noches de estío para niños
