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sai-national.org • Spring 2022 15 style, oen from the melody line alone. Aer our tours in the US and Europe, the Ministry of Culture recommended me to the Versailles castle of Grand Trianon to sing literally in the footsteps of Marie-Antoinette, in the place where she had sung, for seasons of performances which drew crowds of international tourists. is enabled us to add two more full concert programmes and to be filmed in situation by Paris Première television. My partnership with Arthur on this wonderful project was a great moment in my life, but it was all too short because he died suddenly in late 1991, leaving this enormous task unfinished. It has been my ongoing mission to complete it with the help of Peter Gellhorn, Simone Féjard, and other experts. With my company, LA REINE ARTISTE, I have created nine more full programmes, with most filmed for a DVD collection of music documentaries. Aer two film treatments, I wrote a play, which puts Marie-Antoinette's music back into her life and considers her musical legacy. Marie-Antoinette's songs were well known in her final years in Versailles. Both He is my betrothed and Poor Jamie were published before the revolution. Sometimes Marie-Antoinette composed romances to her own poetry, but oen she created music to poetry composed by her circle of friends. It was commonplace at the court for the titled nobility to enjoy artistic pursuits, even if it was oen necessary for women to hide their identities beneath a signature of M... e poem He is my betrothed (See Item 1) was composed by Florian, who was in the service of the Duke of Penthièvre and the father-in-law of Marie-Antoinette's close friend Marie-érèse de Lamballe. Arthur Hammond possessed a gi for translating into English in exact prosody, drawing on his long experience, for the benefit of singers and audiences. Along with his many translations of operas during his years as Music Director of the Carl Rosa Opera, which performed only in English, he also translated hundred of songs and arias for the Covent Garden Celebrity Concerts when he was consultant there. e best known of Marie-Antoinette's romances in her own time was Pauvre Jacques (Poor Jamie, Item 2), composed in collaboration with the King's younger sister, Madame Elisabeth and her household. Her lady in waiting, Madame de Travanet, is credited with writing the poem, which tells the true story of Jacques Bosson's fiancée from Switzerland who looked aer the Queen's model village. Jacques was brought to Versailles and the couple were married at the St. Symphorien church, just weeks before the fall of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, heralding the end of the monarchy. e charming and sentimental melody was seized upon by both royalists and revolutionaries alike as the old order slipped away into exile, and the factions contesting royal authority chose well- known tunes to convey their messages. It would have been a form of provocation to use the Queen's romance to challenge or mock the King (Item 3). In contrast, many of Marie-Antoinette's friends and other unpopular members of the royal family, including Gabrielle de Polignac and the King's brother, the Count of Artois, fled the country just a few days aer the Bastille fell. e symbolic color of the royalists was white and they would wear a white rosette in their hair or carry a white fan to identify themselves among friends. In an exhibit at the Musée Galliera, the Paris costume museum, we saw such a fan in white silk with the words of a romance that fits perfectly to the tune of Poor Jamie and is inscribed: "To Marie-Antoinette, still Queen of France" (Item 4). Marie-Antoinette had come to France, aged just 14, to marry Louis-Auguste, heir to the throne of France. As his wife, Marie-Antoinette, Dauphine, was expected to produce the next generation of heirs. is was her sacred and designated mission in an arranged marriage, dictated by her mother, Empress Maria eresa, to satisfy her political alliance with France. Marie-Antoinette'e artistic expression in her music is directly motivated by the long wait for a child to be born: 7 1/2 years. A portrait by Duplessis, recently acquired by the Versailles castle, gives the image of this as yet unfulfilled Princess. In 1772, she holds her head high with dignity of expression, but wears a vulnerable, hurt look. According to Madame Campan, her lady in waiting, Marie-Antoinette suffered from the Dauphin's coldness towards her. She seems to have blamed herself for her failure to achieve a genuine union with her new husband. is was the theme of a menuet to which she and others may have danced, with its Tom Tolman, courtesy of MacDowell Tom Tolman, courtesy of MacDowell Cposers F F F F He is my betrothed If among our village people, You see a shepherd gentle and kind, Whom you like well when you meet him, And you like him better still in time. He is my betrothed, Lead him to me. He has my heart, and I have his. If his sweet and wistful singing Charms the echo in your woods, If the strains of his mellow pipe Fill the shepherdess with emotion. He is my betrothed, Lead him to me, He has my heart, and I have his. If though he'll not dare to address you He can melt your heart with his glance. If though never causing a blush, His merriment's always amusing He is my betrothed, Lead him to me. He has my heart, and I have his. Item 1 Item 1 h Pauvre Jacques (Poor Jamie) REFRAIN: Ah, poor Jamie, when I was at your side, I was not aware of my sorrow, But at the hour when you live faraway, I have nothing left in the wide world. When you were with me to share my toil, I could face my tasks with a light heart, Do you recall all the days we enjoyed Who will give back to us such fortune? REFRAIN When yonder sun shines upon our broad lands, I can bear no longer his radiance; And when I seek the cool shade of the wood, I'm discontented with all Nature. REFRAIN h Item 2 Item 2

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