This song was written two years before Duparc abandoned composition in 1885, an action that has led many to speculate about what his considerable talent might have produced. His songs are mainly what's left and this powerful effort, Lamento, gives strong indication of his enormous gifts in vocal writing and of what his burgeoning genius might have yielded. Using a text from French poet Théophile Gautier (1811-1872), Duparc fashioned this sad and utterly haunting song. It opens in a dark mood, the ghostly vocal line sung softly, almost as if its music dare not disturb the "awakened soul...beneath the ground," referenced in the eerie text. The atmosphere is bleak here, the gentle music wallowing in a seeming netherworld of dark shadows and sadness. In the latter half, the tempo unexpectedly turns lively and the music anxious, offering more than a glimmer of brightness. But this sudden surge gradually diminishes, its music unable to overcome the melancholy character that grips the mood. The piano closes out this approximately three-minute song with gloomy, fading descending chords imparting a desolate, hopeless sense. ~ All Music Guide
