Farewell (Lament) | I'm off! Good-bye, my dear

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by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901)

Translation © by Peter Low

Complainte

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Je pars ! Adieu, ma chère âme,
Garde bien mon souvenir !
-- Quoi ! [sitôt partir, ma Dame !]¹
Ne devez-vous revenir ?

-- Si -- je reviendrai peut-être ;
Si -- bien sûr je reviendrai ...
Va m'attendre à la fenêtre ;
De plus loin te reverrai.

J'attendis à la fenêtre
Le retour tant espéré,
Mais, ni bien sûr, ni peut-être,
Ni jamais la reverrai!

Bien fol qui croit quand [sa Dame]²
Lui jure de revenir.
Je meurs ! -- Adieu, ma chère âme !
J'ai gardé ton souvenir.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Massenet

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Armand Silvestre, Rimes neuves et vieilles, Paris, E. Dentu, 1866, pages 76-77.

¹ Massenet: "si tôt partir, madame"
² Massenet: "une dame"

Text Authorship:

by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901), "Complainte", appears in Rimes neuves et vieilles, in 2. Mignonne, no. 12 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

This text (or a part of it) is used in a work

by Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912), "Adieu (Complainte)", op. 14 no. 8 [ voice and piano ], from Poème d'avril, no. 8, note: the first stanza is spoken, also set in German (Deutsch)

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Jules Massenet.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 79

Farewell (Lament)

Language: English after the French (Français)

I'm off! Good-bye, my dear,
remember me well!
- What? Leaving so soon, madam?
Won't you be returning?

- Yes, perhaps I will.
Yes, of course I'll be back.
Wait for me at the window;
I'll see you from a distance.
 
I waited at the window
for her hoped-for return.
But neither "of course" nor "perhaps"
nor ever will I see her again!

When a woman swears she'll return,
only a foolish man believes her.
I'm dying! Good-bye, my dear!
Yes, I've remembered you!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901), "Complainte", appears in Rimes neuves et vieilles, in 2. Mignonne, no. 12
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 82