Sometimes, the value of a song lies, above all, in its simplicity. In a simple vocal line and a delicate accompaniment. And, of course, in a composer with class. This is the case of this week's song, Two little flowers by Charles Ives.
In 1908, Ives married Harmony Twitchell. Harmony (what a suitable name in that family!) was a nurse and occasional poet; her verses often inspired her husband's songs (she also made the English version of poems such as Über alle Gipfeln ist Ruh or Die Lotosblume). In 1915, the couple adopted a daughter, Edith.
A few years later, when the child was seven years old, she was playing one day in the garden with her friend Susanna, the daughter of a family in the neighbourhood. It's easy to picture the scene. A spring day, the voices of the little girls, their laughter, and their parents sitting, relaxed, perhaps with a fresh lemonade jar on the table, looking at them and enjoying. Harmony Twitchell and Charles Ives wrote a short poem about this scene, which appears to be intended so that the children could easily memorize it: There are many beautiful and rare flowers everywhere, but the most beautiful and rare are Edith and Susanna.
The poem became a song, Two little flowers (and dedicated to them), and Ives included it in the extensive compilation he published the following year, in 1922, 114 Songs; it is no. 104. And, as I told you at the beginning, it's delightful in its simplicity (apparently, at least)
The recording I have selected to share is that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Michael Porti. On the one hand, as a reminder of the immense repertoire that the baritone had. On the other hand, I like the fast tempo he chose, which makes me think of girls moving up and down in their own world. Other performances that have a slower tempo remind me of parents trying to relax their children. Since the tempo in the score is allegretto, I guess Fischer-Dieskau was on the right track.
This is also the version that I chose to share on Tuesday 18 at the talk at the Institute of North American Studies in Barcelona. While I was preparing, I remembered that years ago I had written down this song in my notebook; I suppose I lost it when I changed from one notebook to a new season. It's time to listen to it. I hope you like it.
two little flowers are seen,
One dressed, at times, in brightest pink
and one in green.
The marigold is radiant,
the rose passing fair;
The violet is ever dear,
the orchid, ever rare;
There’s lov’liness in wild flow’rs
of field or wide savannah,
But fairest, rarest of them all
are Edith and Susanna.
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