The song of Eve

Song Cycle by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)

View original-language texts alone: La Chanson d'Ève

1. Paradis
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
    C'est le premier matin du monde,
Comme une fleur confuse exhalée de la nuit,
Au souffle nouveau qui se lève des ondes,
    Un jardin bleu s'épanouit.

  Tout s'y confond encore et tout s'y mêle,
    Frissons de feuilles, chants d'oiseaux,
          Glissements d'ailes,
Sources qui sourdent, voix des airs, voix des eaux,
          Murmure immense,
    Et qui pourtant est du silence.

Ouvrant à la clarté ses doux et vagues yeux,
          La jeune et divine Eve
          S'est éveillée de Dieu,
Et le monde à ses pieds s'étends comme un beau rêve.

    Or, Dieu lui dit: "Va, fille humaine,
          Et donne à tous les êtres
Que j'ai créés, une parole de tes lèvres,
          Un son pour les connaître".

Et Eve s'en alla, docile à son seigneur,
          En son bosquet de roses,
          Donnant à toutes choses
Une parole, un son de ses lèvres de fleur:

Chose qui fuit, chose qui souffle, chose que vole...

Cependant le jour passe, et vague, comme à l'aube,
          Au crépuscule, peu à peu,
          L'Eden s'endort et se dérobe
          Dans le silence d'un songe bleu.

La voix s'est tue, mais tout l'écoute encore,
          Tout demeure en l'attente,
Lorsqu'avec le lever de l'étoile du soir,
          Eve chante.

 ...

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
1.
Language: English 
It is the world's first morning.
Like a misty flower exhaled by the night
on the new breath rising from the waters
a blue garden opens out.

Everything is still mingled and mixed:
leaves rustling, birds singing,
wings fluttering,
gushing streams, voices of air, voices of water -
an immense murmuring,
yet all composed of silence.

Opening her soft vague eyes to the light,
the divine young Eve
has awoken out of God,
and the world spreads at her feet like a beautiful dream.

And God said to her: "Go, human child,
and give to all the beings I've created
a word from your lips,
 a sound to know them by."

And Eve, obedient to her lord,
went out into her thicket of roses,
and gave to all things
a word, a sound from her flowerlike lips -

scurrying things, breathing things, flying things...

Meanwhile the day passes, and the Garden,
hazy at dusk as at dawn,
falls asleep and slips away
into the silence of a blue dream. 

The voice has stopped, but everything listens for it,
everything remains expectant,
until at the rising of the moon
Eve sings.

[ ... ]

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translation of title Paradis = "Paradise"

Translator's note for stanza 1, line 4, words 2 and 3: "blue garden". "Jardin bleu" - "bleu" suggests something wondrous, fabulous, ideal.



This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 41
Word count: 188

Translation © by Peter Low
2. Prima verba
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Comme elle chante
Dans ma voix,
L'âme longtemps murmurante
Des fontaines et des bois !

Air limpide du paradis,
Avec tes grappes de rubis,
Avec tes gerbes de lumière,
Avec tes roses et tes fruits ;

Quelle merveille en nous à cette heure !
Des paroles depuis des âges endormies
En des sons, en des fleurs.
Sur mes lèvres enfin prennent vie.

Depuis que mon souffle a dit leur chanson,
Depuis que ma voix les a créés,
Quel silence heureux et profond
Naît de leurs âmes allégées !

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
2. First words
Language: English 
 In my voice there sings
 - and how it sings! -
 the long-murmuring soul
 of the streams and woods!
 
 Oh limpid air of paradise,
 with your clusters of rubies,
 your sheaves of light,
 your roses and your fruits,
 
 what a miracle is happening in us at this moment!
 Words that for eons were sleeping
 are now at last coming to life
 in sounds, in flowers on my lips.
 
 Now that my breath has uttered their song,
 now that my voice has created them,
 what a deep blissful silence
 is born from their lightened souls!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 93

Translation © by Peter Low
3. Roses ardentes
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
  Roses ardentes
Dans l'immobile nuit,
C'est en vous que je chante
  Et que je suis.

En vous, étincelles,
À la cime des bois,
Que je suis éternelle
  Et que je vois.

  Ô mer profonde,
C'est en toi que mon sang
Renaît vague blonde,
  En flot dansant.

Et c'est en toi, force suprême,
  Soleil radieux,
Que mon âme elle-même
  Atteint son dieu !

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
3. Fiery roses
Language: English 
Fiery roses
in the still night,
in you I am singing,
in you I exist.
 
Sparks
at the tips of the forest,
in you I am eternal,
in you I can see.
 
Deep ocean, in you
my blood is reborn
as a white-capped wave,
as a dancing tide.
 
And in you, supreme force,
radiant sun,
my very soul
reaches its God!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translations of titles
"Roses ardentes dans l'immobile nuit" = "Fiery roses in the still night"
"Roses ardentes" = "Fiery roses"



This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 61

Translation © by Peter Low
4. Comme Dieu rayonne
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Comme Dieu rayonne aujourd'hui,
Comme il exulte, comme il fleurit
Parmi ces roses et ces fruits!

Comme il murmure en cette fontaine!
Ah! comme il chante en ces oiseaux...
Qu'elle est suave son haleine
Dans l'odorant printemps nouveau!

Comme il se baigne dans la lumière
Avec amour, mon jeune dieu!
Toutes les choses de la terre
Sont ses vêtements radieux.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
4. How radiant God is
Language: English 
 How radiant God is today,
 how he exults, how he blossoms,
 in these flowers and fruits!
 
 How he murmurs in this stream!
 Ah, how he sings in these birds...
 How sweet his breath is
 in the fragrant new springtime!
 
 How he bathes in the light
 with Eros, my young god!
 All things on Earth
 are his radiant garments!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 11
Word count: 59

Translation © by Peter Low
5. L'aube blanche
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
L'aube blanche dit à mon rêve:
"Éveille-toi, le soleil luit".
Mon âme écoute et je soulève
Un peu mes paupières vers lui.

Un rayon de lumière touche
La pâle fleur de mes yeux bleus;
Une flamme éveille ma bouche,
Un souffle éveille mes cheveux.

Et mon âme, comme une rose
Tremblante, lente, tout le jour,
S'éveille à la beauté des choses,
Comme mon âme  à leur amour.

 ...

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
5. The white dawn
Language: English 
The white dawn says to my dream:
"Wake up, the sun is shining."
My soul listens and I raise
my eyelids slightly towards it.

A ray of light touches
the pale flower of my blue eyes.
A flame awakens my mouth,
a breeze awakens my hair.

And my soul, like a rose,
trembling slowly all day through,
wakes to the beauty of things,
as my soul wakes to their love.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 70

Translation © by Peter Low
6. Eau vivante
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Que tu es simple et claire,
Eau vivante,
Qui, du sein de la terre,
Jaillis en ces bassins et chantes!

Ô fontaine divine et pure,
Les plantes aspirent
Ta liquide clarté
La biche et la colombe en toi se désaltèrent.

Et tu descends par des pentes douces
De fleurs et de mousses,
Vers l'océan originel,
Toi qui passes et vas, sans cesse, et jamais lasse
De la terre à la mer et de la mer au ciel.

 ...

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
6. Living water
Language: English 
How simple and clear you are,
living water,
as out of the earth
you well up in these pools and sing!

Oh pure divine spring,
the plants draw in
your liquid brightness,
in you the hind and the dove slake their thirst.

And you flow down over gentle slopes
of flowers and mosses
towards the primeval ocean;
you pass on unceasing and untiring
from land to sea and from sea to sky.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 72

Translation © by Peter Low
7. Veilles‑tu, ma senteur de soleil
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Veilles-tu, ma senteur de soleil,
Mon arôme d'abeilles blondes,
Flottes-tu sur le monde,
Mon doux parfum de miel?

La nuit, lorsque mes pas
Dans le silence rôdent,
M'annonces-tu, senteur de mes lilas,
Et de mes roses chaudes?

Suis-je comme une grappe de fruits
Cachés dans les feuilles,
Et que rien ne décèle,
Mais qu'on odore dans la nuit?

Sait-il à cette heure,
Que j'entr'ouvre ma chevelure,
Et qu'elle respire?
Le sent-il sur la terre?

Sent-il que j'étends les bras
Et que des lys de mes vallées,
Ma voix qu'il n'entend pas
Est embaumée?

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
7. Are you awake?
Language: English 
 Are you awake, sun-smell of my body,
 my scent of blond bees?
 Are you wafting on the world,
 my sweet perfume of honey?
 
 At night when my footsteps
 roam in the silence,
 do you announce my presence,
 fragrance of my lilacs and warm roses?
 
 Am I like a bunch of fruit
 hidden in the leaves
 which nothing makes visible
 but which can be smelt at night?
 
 Does he know at this moment
 that I'm loosening my hair
 and that it breathes;
 can he smell it on the ground?
 
 Can he sense that I'm reaching out my arms
 and that my voice which he does not hear
 is perfumed
 with the lilies of my valleys?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 115

Translation © by Peter Low
8. Dans un parfum de roses blanches
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Dans un parfum de roses blanches,
elle est assise et songe;
et l'ombre est belle comme s'il s'y mirait un ange...

L'ombre descend, le bosquet dort;
Entre les feuilles et les branches,
Sur le paradis bleu s'ouvre un paradis d'or;

 ... 
Une voix qui chantait, tout à l'heure, murmure...
Un murmure s'exhale en haleine et s'éteint.

Dans le silence il tombe des pétales...

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
8. In a perfume of white roses
Language: English 
 In a perfume of white roses
 Eve sits and dreams;
 and the shade is as beautiful as if an angel were reflected in it.
 
 The shadow falls, the thicket sleeps;
 on the blue paradise, among the leaves and branches,
 a golden paradise opens.
 
 [On the shore a last distant wave is dying]
 A voice murmurs which just now was singing...
 A murmur breathes out and dies away.
 
 In the silence petals fall...

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 73

Translation © by Peter Low
9. Crépuscule
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Ce soir, à travers le bonheur,
Qui donc soupire, qu'est-ce qui pleure ?
Qu'est-ce qui vient palpiter sur mon cœur,
Comme un oiseau blessé ?

 ... 
Est-ce une voix future,
Une voix du passé ?
J'écoute, jusqu'à la souffrance,
Ce son dans le silence.

Île d'oubli, ô Paradis !
Quel cri déchire, dans la nuit,
Ta voix qui me berce ?
Quel cri traverse
Ta ceinture de fleurs,
Et ton beau voile d'allégresse ?

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
9. Twilight
Language: English 
Who is it, what is it, this evening
that pierces through happiness with sighs and weeping?
What is this thing quivering on my heart
like a wounded bird?

[Is it a groan of the earth?]
Is it a voice of the future,
of the past?
I listen, until it hurts,
to this sound in the silence.

Oh Paradise, isle of forgetfulness,
what cry tonight is rending
your voice which lulls me?
What cry is cutting through
your girdle of flowers
and your beautiful veil of joy?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 86

Translation © by Peter Low
10. Ô mort, poussière d'étoiles
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Ô mort, poussière d'étoiles,
Lève-toi sous mes pas !

Viens, ô douce vague qui brilles
Dans les ténèbres ;
Emporte-moi dans ton néant !

Viens, souffle sombre où je vacille,
Comme une flamme ivre de vent !

C'est en toi que je veux m'étendre,
M'éteindre et me dissoudre,
Mort où mon âme aspire !
 ... 

Viens, brise-moi comme une fleur d'écume,
Une fleur de soleil à la cime
Des eaux,
 ... 

Et comme d'une amphore d'or
Un vin de flamme et d'arome divin,
Épanche mon âme
En ton abîme, pour qu'elle embaume
La terre sombre et le souffle des morts.

Text Authorship:

Go to the general single-text view

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
10. Oh Death, dust of stars
Language: English 
 Oh Death, dust of stars,
 rise up under my footsteps!
 
 Come, gentle wave shining
 in the dark,
 carry me off into your nothingness!
 
 Come, sombre breeze in which I sway,
 come like a flame intoxicated with wind!
 
 In you I want to stretch out,
 fade and dissolve,
 oh death, my soul's aspiration!
 [strong god whom my soul awaits
 with songs and laughter of love]
 
 Come, break me like a flower of foam,
 a sun-bloom on the crest
 of the waves!
 [a flower plucked by the night, obscured by shadow
 and scattered by space]
 
 And like a wine of fire and divine scent
 flowing from a golden amphora,
 pour out my soul
 into your abyss, so that it may perfume
 the dark earth and the breath of the dead.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 22
Word count: 129

Translation © by Peter Low