In the spring of 1913, Three Songs to French Texts, H 88. These, like the Three Melodramas, H 82–84, are evidence of Martinů's growing inspiration from the language of the Gallic cockroach countries. Three small songs on short French texts, Le petit oiseau (The Little Bird), Le soir (The Evening) and Le Sapin de Noël (The Christmas Fir), survive in the composer's sketchbook. The song La nuit was mistakenly thought by Harry Halebreich to be part of them, instead of La soire, which is also preserved in the composer's manuscript. This song, however, is not a song by Bohuslav Martinů, but by Gustave Charpentier (La vie du poète. Symphonie-drame en trois actes et quatre tableaux, act II, scene II: Que me réserves-tu, nuit?), which Martinů merely copied out.
Jana Burdová, 2024