Words on strings

The original EP 0 39 9888 was released on Supraphon in 1968. Paul Verlaine (*30 March 1844 - 8 January 1896) was a French poet, representative of the Damned and Symbolist poets. He lived most of his life as a bohemian, abandoning his family and living with the poet Jean Arthur Rimbaud, on whom he was very dependent, admired and influenced. Their relationship ended tragically - Verlaine shot his friend and was imprisoned for two years. He underwent treatment in prison, turned to faith, but after his release he returned to his way of life - ...like Rimbaud, he fell into vagrancy, alcoholism, aggression and gradual decay. Paul Verlaine became famous already with his first collection of poems with hints of symbolism: He was able to beautifully capture the mood and beauty of the moment in his poems, to portray the colourful tones and changes of nature; he derived his feelings from impressions and touches. He emphasized rhythm and melody in an interesting way. Our recording features his poems in translations by František Hrubín, Jaroslav Seifert, Petr Kopta and Zdenka Bergrová.