My familiar dream | I often have this strange, engrossing dream

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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

Translation © by Peter Low

Je fais souvent ce rêve étrange et...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ITA

Je fais [souvent]¹ ce rêve étrange et pénétrant
D'une femme inconnue, et que j'aime, et qui m'aime,
Et qui n'est, chaque fois, ni tout à fait la même
Ni tout à fait une autre, et m'aime et me comprend.

Car elle me comprend, et mon cœur, transparent
Pour elle seule, hélas ! cesse d'être un problème
Pour elle seule, et les moiteurs de mon front blême,
Elle seule les sait rafraîchir, en pleurant.

Est-elle [brune, blonde]² ou rousse ? — Je l'ignore.
Son nom ? Je me souviens qu'il est doux et sonore
Comme ceux des aimés que la Vie exila.

Son regard est pareil au regard des statues,
Et, pour sa voix, lointaine, et calme, et grave, elle a
L'inflexion des voix chères qui se sont tues.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• H. Bosmans

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, pages 23-24.

¹ Bosmans: "parfois"
² Bosmans: "blonde, brune"

Text Authorship:

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Mon rêve familier", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 1. Melancholia, no. 6, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [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):

by Marcelle-Marguerite Aaron (1884 - 1956) and by Yvonne-Madeleine Aaron (1897 - 1987), "Mon rêve familier", published 1926 [ voice and piano ], Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
by Henri Bordes d'Anzy (b. 1905), "Mon rêve familier" [ voice and piano ], J.-M. Champel [sung text not yet checked]
by Henriëtte Bosmans (1895 - 1952), "Mon rêve familier", 1921, published 1954 [ medium voice and piano ], from 4 liederen op Franse tekst, no. 1, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]
by P. Challot , "Mon rêve familier", published 1901 [ voice and piano ], from Huit mélodies, no. 5, Alleton [sung text not yet checked]
by Louis Dumas (1877 - 1952), "Mon rêve familier", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], Sénart ; first published in Le Figaro, Supp. Litt., 25 mai [sung text not yet checked]
by Léo Ferré (1916 - 1993), "Mon rêve familier", published 1970 [ voice and piano ], Nouvelles Éditions Méridian [sung text not yet checked]
by Hector Michel Fraggi (1882 - 1944), "Mon rêve familier", 1919, published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Poèmes en musique, no. 6, Salabert [sung text not yet checked]
by Pierre Galan , "Mon rêve familier", 1918 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "Un rêve", op. 52 (Quatre mélodies pour chant et piano) no. 1 (1990) [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), "Mon rêve familier", op. 22 (Quatre mélodies) no. 3 (1901) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Daniel Lamotte , "Mon rêve familier", 1903 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. E. Demets [sung text not yet checked]
by Youssef Khan Nazare-Aga, dit Kyna (1870 - 1942), "Je fais souvent", published 1908 [ voice and piano ], from Deux sonnets, no. 1, Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Max d'Ollone (1875 - 1959), "Mon rêve familier", published 1900 [ voice and piano ], Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert Otlet , "Mon rêve familier", published 1935 [ voice and piano ], from Melancholia, no. 5, Bosworth et Cie [sung text not yet checked]
by Héctor Panizza (1875 - 1967), "Mon rêve familier", op. 24 no. 6 (1899) [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Neuf poésies de Paul Verlaine, no. 6, Milan, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
by Antonio Parera (1890 - ?), "Mon rêve familier", 1919 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Martha Helen Schmidt (b. 1956), "Mon rêve familier", copyright © 2008 [ high voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies for high voice and piano, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by René Téboul , "Mon rêve familier", published 1954 [ voice and piano ], from Est-elle brune ou blonde ?, Sté Stoebel [sung text not yet checked]
by Jacques-F.G. Vallier , "Mon rêve familier", published 1949 [ voice and piano ], J. Vallier [sung text not yet checked]
by Philip Wilby (b. 1949), "Mon rêve familier", copyright © 1988, first performed 1983 [ medium voice and piano ], from Ten songs of Paul Verlaine for medium voice and piano, Cycle I : Melancholia, no. 4, Chester Music [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Hermann Hesse (1877 - 1962) , title 1: "Traum", title 2: "Mon rêve familier aus dem Französischen des Paul Verlaine", written 1901, first published <<1915 ; composed by Laci Boldemann, Richard Czelinski, Willy Czernik, Artur Immisch, Richard Trunk.
- Go to the text.

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

ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "My Familiar Dream", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 1. Melancholia, no. 6

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 127

My familiar dream

Language: English after the French (Français)

 I often have this strange, engrossing dream
 of an unknown woman, whom I love and who loves me,
 and who, each time, is never quite the same
 nor completely another, and who loves and understands.
 
 For she understands me; my heart, an open book
 to her alone (alas), is no longer a problem,
 at least not to her; and when my pale brow is clammy
 she alone knows how to refresh it, with her tears.
 
 Is she brunette, blonde or redheaded? I don't know.
 Her name? I recall that it's sweet and sonorous
 like the names of lovers whom Life sent into exile.
 
 Her gaze is like the gaze of a statue,
 and her voice - her distant, calm deep voice -
 has the inflection of beloved voices that have fallen silent.

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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Mon rêve familier", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 1. Melancholia, no. 6, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 131