To begin today’s program, we will perform Trois fables de la Fontaine by André Caplet. The texts are drawn from Jean de la Fontaine's extensive collection of fables. The three fables that Caplet selects are “The Crow and the Fox,” “The Cicada and the Ant,” and “The Wolf and the Lamb.” As fables, each piece has a moral meant for children. When preparing the pieces, we talked about what we thought the morals were and how we would convey them through our approach to the piece. We also hope that moments of humor will emerge in our performance.

In the first song, “The Crow and the Fox,” the Crow has come across a piece of cheese, a very tasty prize for a crow. The Fox comes across the Crow and through flattery tricks him into dropping the cheese. The Fox tells the Crow that flatterers only survive because they have a receptive audience. In our interpretation, we focus on bringing a kaleidoscope of colors to the Fox to show all the different voices he can use to flatter the Crow. Also, listen for the Crow ruffling his feathers; it is a wonderful effect in the piano towards the end of the piece.

In the second song, “The Cicada and the Ant,” we begin with a luxurious and expressive piano introduction. In this introduction, listen for the lyrical song of the Cicada arcing through long summer days. Our fable begins as the summer fades and the Cicada discovers that she has saved nothing to eat for the colder months ahead. She goes to her neighbor, the Ant, asking for a loan of grain, but the Ant is unmoved, chastising the Cicada for not preparing during the summer. The moral is harsh: Those who do not prepare must face the consequences. We try to depict this through stark differences between the lyrical long-winded phrases of the Cicada and the blunt concise responses from the Ant. The end of the piece turns the demise of the Cicada into a joke, for even as she dies, she cannot help but sing a lament to her fate. In our minds, the Ant remains unmoved.

While preparing, we also discussed whether we agree with the morals of the fables. The first two fables contain hard lessons, but lessons that ultimately give agency to listeners to change and avoid the fates of the Crow and the Cicada. The last song, “The Wolf and the Lamb,” is less optimistic. Its moral is presented by a narrator in the introduction: The strongest individual with a strong conviction will always be victorious. With this set up, we begin our tale of the poor Lamb who is ultimately eaten by the Wolf who feels entitled to do so because of the mistreatment he has received from shepherds and their dogs. We felt that setting up this song with the moral first allows us to express our disappointment that this moral often plays out in real life. We all feel for the Lamb who has done no wrong himself. We choose to play up the violent tone of the Wolf in contrast to the pathetic responses from the Lamb to bring attention to the power dynamics of the story. We feel this final song stands as a reminder to us all to moderate our sense of righteousness to avoid behaving like the Wolf.