Composition by Pierre Laroche for SATB a cappella choir, text by Paul Éluard
3rd prize in the "Chanter en français" competition organised by À Coeur Joie International
"La courbe de tes yeux", written by Paul Éluard in 1924, appeared in his collection Capitale de la douleur, published in 1926.
Paul Éluard wrote it when he was still very much in love with Gala, a young Russian woman he had met in a sanatorium in 1912 and married in 1917. Unfortunately, Gala became the mistress of the painter and sculptor Max Ernst, for whom she posed. Éluard then set off on a world tour and wrote this poem, which evokes the eyes and gaze of Gala, whom he still loved.
Éluard uses the poetic form of the coat of arms, focusing here on the eyes and gaze of the woman he loves.
The circular form has pride of place in this poem: "curve", "round", "halo", "cradle" are among the words used.
The music uses two themes to underline the division of the poem into three parts, and expresses the tenderness associated with the nostalgic memory of this love. The third part mixes the themes of the second part and the first part to converge on four repetitions of the last line "Et tout mon sang coule dans leur regard", symbolising the nostalgia of the eyes of the loved one as a mirror of Paul Éluard's vital principle.
Running time: 3'10
