Ex. 12-7: Sérénade d'hiver

This is the fourth of Augusta Holmès's five serenades, the one for winter. She wrote the words herself, as she did for the others. It was published in Paris in 1884, when she was 36, a year after the spring song, Sérénade printanière.

In the poem, the singer calls to someone who has been hurt by other people. Outside there are cruel hearts and an icy wind. But the winter has sent this person into the singer's arms, where they can sleep in peace and forget.

The app uses Holmès's original key, G♭. For about 17 years the song was sold only in this key. A version in E♭ for low voices came out around 1901, and the app's lower version uses the same key.

From the album Visions Illuminées (2023), sung by Mary Bevan with Joseph Middleton, piano, and the Ruisi Quartet, in a version with string quartet that is said to be Holmès's own
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