(Ernest Chausson: born in Paris, 1855; died in Limay, June 12, 1889)

SYMPHONIC POEM, "VIVIANE": Op. 5

The subject of Chausson's symphonic poem is not the familiarly known Vivien of Tennyson—"treacherous, malignant, wanton"—but the vastly different Viviane of the old French legends. This delectable creature, the legendary woman who fired the imagination of Chausson, was a fairy who inhabited the forest of BrocÉliande. [31] "More beautiful than the snow-necked swan," she typified the beneficence of nature. Merlin, "the old seer that knew the future as well as the past"—Merlin, who was, at various times in the growth of the old legend, the Celtic Mercury, bard, savant, prophet, warrior—was willing, observes Mr. Philip Hale in an interesting commentary, "yea, eager, to enter within the magic circle he had taught her [Viviane]. He knew what his fate would be. He longed to give her this assurance that he would never leave her." The Armorican tale upon which, in particular, Chausson based his symphonic poem has been paraphrased by Mr. Hale from VillermarquÉ as follows:

"Arthur went to Gaul to deliver the king of Little Brittany and put Berry under the dominion of the Bretons, and Merlin followed him. After the deeds were done, Merlin took leave of Arthur for a time and went homeward through the great forests. He assumed the shape and dress of a young student. Finally he came to the forest of BrocÉliande, and there he found a spring, which was visited by a young maiden who lived in a dwelling near by. Her mother was the fairy of the valley, and she had endowed her daughter with these gifts: she would be loved by the wisest man in the world; he would obey all her wishes, and he could never force her to obey his; she would learn from him whatever she wished to know. And the name of this maiden was Viviane, which means, in the ChaldÆan language, I shall do nothing. Pleased with her at first sight, he showed her many strange and wonderful things; he commanded proud processions to pass by for her amusement; he said the word, and gardens smiled before her; and then he left her for a year with the promise to teach her all that he knew.

"Merlin returned on the eve of Saint John's Day. She was more beautiful than ever. 'Her skin was so fresh, so white, so smooth!' And he was well-nigh mad with love. He taught her how to make water run where none ran before, to change her form at will, to put to sleep whomever she pleased. 'He taught her then this secret and many others: our Lord God wished it thus.'

"Again Merlin left her to join Arthur; but he often visited Viviane, who knew him only as a fair youth. The king would miss him, and send messengers; but his call would be in vain.

"The hermit Blaise knew the secret of Merlin, and urged him to keep far from the forest. Merlin answered: 'I shall never have the courage to abandon her. Yet I know that once near her I shall never have the strength to come back to you."

"The hermit said: 'Why do you go if you know what is to happen?'

"'I go because I gave her my promise. I love her with such a love that I cannot hold myself back. It is I, I alone, that gave her this power, and I shall enlarge it. She shall know all I know. I could not, I cannot, I do not wish to defend myself.'

"The good hermit left him for one mad, and began to weep. He embraced him, and Merlin went away, and he too wept at leaving his dear master.

"Viviane had pondered many ways of keeping Merlin as her own. This time she caressed him as she had never done before. She said: 'I wish this Garden of Joy to stay here as it is, forever, that we might live here always, we two; that we should never grow old, never leave each other, never cease to love in full happiness.' And Merlin told her how to do this.

"They sat one day beneath a bush of hawthorn, in the shade, on the green grass, and the head of Merlin was on the knees of Viviane. She passed again and again her hands through his hair, until he slept. Then she arose and twined nine times her scarf around the bush of blossoming hawthorn, and cast nine spells which Merlin had taught her. Then she took her seat near him, and put again his head upon her knees, and she thought it all had been only play, and that there really was no bewitchment. But when Merlin opened his eyes and looked about him, forest, garden, bush of hawthorn—all had disappeared, and he found himself in a castle of enchantment, on a bed of flowers, prisoner to the love of Viviane.

"'Ah, Viviane,' he cried, 'I shall think you purposed to deceive me if you now ever go from me!'

"'Sweetheart,' said Viviane, 'how could you think so? How could I ever leave you?'

"And she kept her word to him."

Chausson's symphonic poem was first performed in Paris (at a concert in the Cirque d'Hiver), March 30, 1884. Later it was extensively revised, and the altered version was played at a Lamoureux concert on January 29, 1888. The following preface is printed in the score: