“How sweet, my own,
Could we live alone
Over beyond the sea!
To love and to die
Indolently
In the land that’s akin to thee!
Where the suns which rise
In the watery skies
Weave soft spells over my sight,
As thy false eyes do
When they flicker through
Their tears with a dim, strange light.

There all is beauty and symmetry,
Pleasure and calm and luxury.”

— Charles Baudelaire, The Invitation to the Voyage

— Georges Forget [English translation: Jack Collings Squire, 1909, ii-15]

Seul et septembre [Alone and September] was realized in 2008 at the composer’s studio and premiered on May 15, 2008 during the concert Con sordino (1) produced by Point d’écoute at Relais Mont-Royal in Montréal (Québec). The concert version of Seul et septembre is more stripped-down and minimalistic; the work En l’air is a miniature excerpted from Seul et septembre; it was included in 60x60 (2011 / Canada Mix).

Composition

• 2008, Personal studio, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• May 15, 2008, Con sordino (1), Relais Mont-Royal, Montréal (Québec)