Was Isola Bella, this beautiful song that we adopted as our own and learnt at school, and sang with pride, composed here in Seychelles or was it adapted from an earlier song?
Who actually composed Isola Bella?
” Je suis la plus belle des îles,
Le soir pour m’endormir,
J’entends les ondes tranquilles,
le vent du large gémir;
“I am the most beautiful of the islands,
In the evening to fall asleep,
I hear the quiet waves,
the offshore wind moan;
And towards the waves where I was born,
As to a shining mirror,…..
This article below, contributed by Julien Durup ( see brief biography below) and featured in the Seychelles Weekly , tried unsuccessfully to shed some light on who actually composed Isola Bella.
The Article
…‘ we are told that the Marist Brothers (who replaced the De la Salle Brothers in 1884 ( in Seychelles), composed the much loved song “Isola Bella” (beautiful Island). This is again a fantasy invented by the Roman Catholic high hierarchy. We were taught to sing it at their school and were told that it was, a “Vielle Chanson du Collège de Saint Louis (des Frères Maristes) composée par Daniel Jean Baptiste Varigault”.
Who was Daniel Jean Baptiste Varigault?
Daniel Jean Baptiste Varigault was one of the Seychelles’ best poet, linguist and a staunch fighter for press freedom. He was born at Mahé on 16 April 1886 and died in Italy as a poor man in 1955, with only three persons attending his funeral cortege.
Varigault spoke seven languages; he was also apparently a musician and left the Seychelles to study for the priesthood in Europe. He studied in England, France and Spain.
After his studies, he went to South America where he worked as a journalist in Chile, Peru and later set up his own printing press in Brazil. It was in Brazil that he set up his own newspaper called “La Revue des Revues de l’Amérique du sud” in which he published many of his poems.
It is said that the most beautiful one was dedicated to his childhood sweetheart and many of them were very nostalgic, especially this line.
Emportez-moi là-bas où tout fleurit encore
Où frémit la chaleur sous un ciel toujours pur
L’hiver devient l’été, la nuit cède à l’aurore.
Daniel Varigault-Valenfort
His longest poem of 11 pages was « Le Pain et le Poète » which he wrote in 1928 while in Italy. Little is known why he later added ‘ Valenfort’ to his surname.
He was apparently behind a failed coup d’état in Brazil and had to run away from the country. When he returned he was incarcerated in Rio de Janeiro (River of January), and his printing press was confiscated. He later left for Italy where he set up a travel agent.’
In Seychelles Mr. Daniel VRIGAUT-VALENFORT is recognised as being the first Seychellois poet, and in March 2013 the Minister of Tourism and Culture, M. Alain St Ange, the Minister of Foreign Affairs , M. Jean-Paul Adam, the principal secretary for culture, Mlle Benjamine Rose, paid a special homage to him.
Julien continued:
‘Things changed when late last year I received an interesting mail from Mr Bernard Georges on the research of Mr David Thomas on the history of the “Isola Bella”. Based on his research, I requested Elien Samé an old friend of mine in La Rochelle to help further. He contacted someone at île de Groix a commune in the department of Morbihan. There interestingly, their famous ‘chanson populaire’ since 1910 is “La belle île de Groix”(see 1 below from Mr Thomas Documents) has nearly the same lyric as “Isola Bella.” They did not know anything regarding the Seychelles connection and suggested without any lead that it might have come from the “Isola Bella” the small and beautiful island in the north of Italy whose famous villas were finance by rich Roman Catholic Cardinals.’
‘After reading the other interesting part of Mr. Thomas’ research, I have come to the conclusion that Varigault was not the writer of the Seychelles version, he only presumably rephrased some lines of the original version of “Isola Bella”, from the copybook of Ste Thérèse of Lisieux (version 2 below from David Thomas document).
Father Simon (George Louis) Riffieux who used to work with the Marist Bothers (before he was posted to La Digue), wrote his own version (version 4 below) while he was at La Digue from 1928-1932, on the same tune as that of “Isola Bella” of the Seychelles.
More research should be done to know if the “La belle île de Groix”, “Isola Bella” of Ste Thérèse Lisieux, and “Isola Bella” of the Seychelles had the same tune.
However, the “Isola Bella” was made popular in the Seychelles by Brother Louis. When Brother Louis arrived in the Seychelles, Varigault was studying in Europe and it seems that they never met because he never came back to the Seychelles. The “Isola Bella” was later used as a signature tune for Radio Seychelles.
According to Dr Maxime Ferrari, a former student of the Marist Brothers, the version of Father Simon was sung during the visit of Brothers Louis and Philogone (Angleo Meacci Philigono) in the late 1972 at the invitation of the “old boys” (his former students). He also said that Brother Louis visited the Seychelles again for the last time in 1976 as guest of the Government for the Independence celebrations. He was accompanied by a young Spanish Brother.
The Conclusion
Mr Thomas made an interesting conclusion on the origin of the “Isola Bella” viz: “it is not clear if Saint Therese actually wrote these words or if she simply transcribed them into her ‘cahiers scolaires’ but it is worthwhile noting that she actually died in 1897. Varigault would have been 11 years old at that time. Furthermore, one would assume that her ‘cahiers scolaires’ would date earlier from her school days, presumably even before Varigault’s birth. I realise that this information only adds to the conundrum instead of resolving it. However, it does cast doubt on the notion that Varigault wrote Isola Bella”.
The Four Versions of Isola Bella
Version 1
La belle île de Groix– From île de Groix a commune in the department of Morbihan.
” Je suis la plus belle des îles,
le soir pour m’endormir,
J’entends les ondes tranquilles,
le vent du large gémir;
Et vers les flots où je suis née,
comme vers un brillant miroir,
souvent je me suis inclinée,
avec l’aurore, pour me voir.
Refrain
Reine d’Atlantique,
j’ai pour ceinture,
les flots bleus où le goémon croît;
Et les vagues, de leur murmure,
me nomment la belle île de Groix”
Version 2.
Isola Bella in the above copybook of Ste Thérèse of Lisieux
Je suis la plus belle des Iles
Le soir pour m’endormir
J’entends sur les ondes* odes tranquilles
Le vent du lac gémir ;
Et vers les flots où je suis née
Comme vers un brillant miroir,
Souvent je me suis inclinée
Avec l’aurore pour me voir. (Refrain)
Reine du Lac j’ai pour ceinture,
Les flots bleus où Dieu m’isola
Et les vagues dans leur murmure
Me nomment Isola Bella
Et les vagues dans leur murmure
Me nomment Isola Bella
Version 3
The supposed ISOLA BELLA of Daniel Varigault -Our Adopted Version
” Je suis la plus belle des îles,
Le soir pour m’endormir,
J’entends les ondes tranquilles,
le vent du large gémir;
Et vers les flots où je suis née,
Comme vers un brillant miroir,
Souvent je me suis inclinée,
Avec l’aurore, pour me voir.
Refrain
Reine des mers j’ai pour ceinture,
les flots bleus où Dieu m’a placée;
Et les vagues, de leur murmure, (bis)
Me nomment l’aimable Mahé (bis)
2
Près des mes rives enchantées
Comme un léger esquif..
L’oiseau aux ailes argentées
Rose les flot plaintif.
Et mille fleurs de leur corolle
Ornent mes verdoyants coteaux.
Mais plus belle est mon auréole
Je suis la fleur des eaux.
Version 4
The Isola Bella of Father Simon
Ref :
Reine des mers, j’ai pour ceinture,
Les flots bleus où Dieu m’a placée.
Et les vagues dans leur murmure,
Me nomment La Digue enchantée,
1ère
Je suis la plus belle des îles,
Le soir pour m’endormir,
J’entends sur les ondes tranquilles
Le vent des mers gémir,
Et ver les flots où je suis née
Comme vers un brillant miroir,
Souvent je me suis inclinée,
Avec l’aurore pour me voir.
Refrain
J’ai pour la gentille hirondelle
De verdoyants abris :
Et pour le nid de tourterelle
J’ai des lauriers fleuris.
L’ange des mers sous mes ombrages,
Rafraîchit ? les Zéphyrs brûlots
Et change la voix des orages
En dèsaccords attendrissants.
Refrain
Et sur mes rives fortunées
Comme un léger esquif
L’oiselle aux îles argentées
Rase le flot plaintif
Et mille fleurs de leur corolle
Prennent mes ravissants côteaux
Mais plus belle, la fleur des eaux
Refrain
Who is Julien Durup?
Julien Durup, born at Praslin, Seychelles was educated at La Digue and Mahé. In 1972, he studied Bookbinding and Print Finishing at London College of Printing, later training at the British Museum Library of London and at National Archives in Paris.
Julien is the author of many historical articles and three books related to Seychelles.viz: “The History of La Digue” 2009 , currently out of print, and he is working on the second edition; “The Seychelles Islands and its First Landowners 1786-1833” 2013 and “Seafaring Adventures and Conflicts in the Indian Ocean 3500 BCE – 1811 AC” 2016, charts maritime history in the Indian Ocean from ancient times to the arrival of British rule in Seychelles. Both books are distributed by Print House Pty Ltd in the Seychelles.
His last big potential one “The Seychelles 1770-1903: Its Laws and other interesting topics”, to be published soon.
Julien is also a member of Ame De Pirate, a project dedicated to the study of the pirate heritage in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean. His last contribution was a chapter about Schooners of Seychelles in the “Seychelles, Ships and the Sea” the book of Adrian Skerrett.
We thank Julien for his kind permission to reproduce this article
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