Ex. 10-11: Bouton de Rose

This song was published in 1899, late in Amelia Lehmann's life, in New York and London. The title page gives the composer's name only as "A. L."

The French poem is by Constance de Salm (1767–1845). In it, a young man gives a rosebud to a girl named Rose, and he envies the flower, because she will wear it on her breast. The whole poem plays on the word "Rose." It is the girl's name, and it is also the flower. The score also prints English words under the French ones. In the English words she is called Rosa, and the English title is "To Rosa."

Salm wrote the poem when she was very young. She wrote later that some friends asked her for words to an old tune, and that she wrote them in a few moments. The poem was printed in a small yearly book of poems in 1788, and then it was forgotten for about ten years. Then a young composer found it and wrote a new tune for it. The song became so popular that, as one writer put it, "all of France" sang it. More than a hundred years later, Amelia Lehmann set the same words again.

The app uses the original key, D♭ major. Near the end, the score gives a high B♭ as a note the singer may choose to sing, and the app sings it. The main note in the score is F, so if the B♭ is too high, you can sing F instead. There is also a lower version of this song.

IMSLP