Chants d’Auvergne (English: Songs from the Auvergne) is a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France, arranged for soprano and orchestra by French composer and musicologist Joseph Canteloube in the 1920s. The songs are in the local language, Occitan (also known as Langue d’Oc, hence the name of the former province of southern France, Languedoc). Canteloube’s family had deep roots in the Auvergne region, and his arrangements are a labour of love borne from an eagerness to immortalise the folklore and beauty of his home region.

The best-known of Canteloube’s collection is Baïlèro, and this recording, by the Spanish soprano, Victoria de los Ángeles, is surely the most beautifully delivered version of it.

The song is achingly wistful. It evokes a sense of longing, for what – homeland, lost love, lost youth? – it matters not. Victoria de los Ángeles speaks directly to the heart of the listener and perhaps her Catalan background, connected as it is with the peasant traditions of the wider area sometimes known as Occitania, lends itself to the rustic charm.

I heard it years ago on a compilation CD and fell for it instantly. I feel the sense of landscape, of affinity with one’s roots, of being connected to one’s environment, and at the same time the plaintive feeling of separation and yearning that pervades the piece. It all adds up to a wellspring of emotional power.

I only recently looked up the Occitan words and their English translation; they are pastoral in tone (unsurprising given that they are peasant folk-songs), and feature a call-and-response pattern between the singer and her shepherd love.  Of course, it doesn’t matter what the lyrics are; it is the feel of the music and the voice that count, but to some extent the sense of longing and separation is corroborated by the lyric:

Pastré couci foraï,
En obal io lou bel riou
Dio lou baïlèro lèrô…

Shepherd, the water divides us,
And I cannot cross it,
Sing baïlèro lèrô…

I am presenting the music here with some imagery of the mountains, lakes and cascades of the Auvergne, but really you are as well to listen with eyes closed, feet up, in a quiet, pleasant environment, and a large glass of wine in hand. Enjoy…