"What is a man to a career?"

Mary Garden in Massenet’s Thaïs





That fascinating rabbit hole Youtube offers us the sound of composer Claude Debussy, recorded in 1904, accompanying soprano Mary Garden for the G & T (Gramophone and Typewriter Company) in "Il pleure dans mon coeur."

 There is weeping in my heart
 like the rain falling on the town.
 What is this languor
 that pervades my heart?
 
 Oh the patter of the rain
 on the ground and the roofs!
 For a heart growing weary
 oh the song of the rain!
 
 There is weeping without cause
 in this disheartened heart.
 What!  No betrayal?
 There's no reason for this grief.
 
 Truly the worst pain
 is not knowing why,
 without love or hatred,
 my heart feels so much pain.

"What is a man to a career?" - Mary Garden

As a leading soprano at the Opéra-Comique, Garden sang in several world premieres, including the role of Mélisande in Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902.  

Hear more quotable lines (including an entertaining opinion about the role of the bathroom scale in a singer's life) and stories about Debussy, in this interview.