Poet: Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)
Source: Les Illuminations
Date of Composition: 1939 (Mar. 18)
Publication: Boosey & Hawkes, 1944
Voice Difficulty Level: Difficult
Subject: Boats float on the sea.
Range: E4 – Bb5
Tessitura: A4 – E5
Tempo: Allegro con brio; 3/4
Duration: 01:00
Vocal Characteristics: Accented detached jumpy eighth-note, pointilistic melody followed by fast sixteenth scalar passage; similar pointilistic eighth-note passage but on the off beats followed by more scalar passages with chromatics; ending on full bodied A5
Piano Difficulty Level: Difficult
Accompaniment Characteristics: Piano transcription by the composer; fast sixteenth-note patterns in the right hand; pointilistic eighth notes in the left hand; reversed idea for a time