Description on Youtube:
"D'un soir triste" ("Of a sad evening") is Lili Boulanger's (1893-1918) companion piece to her "D'un matin de printemps" ("Of a spring morning"). The pieces form a diptych, or a work made up of two matching parts. Their melodic notes are very similar, although they do not sound the same due to the fast tempo of "D'un matin de printemps" compared with the slow tempo of "D'un soir triste." Also, even though the theme begins with the same notes, they are in different rhythms, and it is not immediately noticeable that they are so similar. While "D'un matin de printemps" is five minutes long, "D'un soir triste" is twice that length. Both pieces are in ¾ meter however, and encompass the tonality of E.
These pieces were also written at about the same time. Lili Boulanger lived until March 1918. The diptych was started in the spring of 1917, and finished in January 1918. Lili herself wrote both pieces for three different arrangements. "D'un soir triste" was arranged for cello and piano (although Lili noted that this was a transcription), piano trio, and orchestra. "D'un matin de printemps" was written for violin or flute and piano, piano trio, and for orchestra. Lili began the chamber arrangements first, and did not finish the orchestral arrangements until January 1918. She basically wrote these orchestral arrangements on her deathbed, and these are the last pieces that Lili was able to write down on paper, as she became too weak after that to even hold a pen. Later, Lili would dictate her last piece, the "Pie Jesu," to her sister, Nadia, who wrote down the score for the work. It seems that despite Lili's intense pain and illness, her mind was lucid, and the works were vivid in her head. All she had to do was reveal what she already had in her mind, which she did without uncertainty or hesitation.
It would be improbable to think that when Lili was writing this sad piece, she was not thinking of her own impending death. By the spring of 1917, she began to believe that there was no hope left of living much longer. "D'un soir triste" is a moving piece, in Impressionistic form, with beautiful, singing violin parts, soft and slow; and yet it becomes forte at parts, quite dissonant, and an impending doom can be heard in the music. The piece is a painting of a sad evening indeed. Lili had known sadness and illness all of her life, but in this piece, it seems as if the futility of it all has finally been deeply felt inside of her and projected in the work. Still, there are parts that rise in dynamics and exquisite beauty; and as Lili was a devout believer, the music at times is uplifting, causing one to believe that possibly impending doom can be overcome even in death.
(comment from:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/444656.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about)
