Le jour où je vous vis pour la première...

Le jour où je vous vis pour la première fois,
Vous aviez un air triste et gai : dans votre voix
Pleuraient des rossignols captifs, sifflaient des merles ;
Votre bouche rieuse, où fleurissaient des perles,
Gardait à ses deux coins d'imperceptibles plis ;
Vos grands yeux bleus semblaient des calices remplis
Par l'orage, et séchant les larmes de la pluie
A la brise d'avril qui chante et les essuie ;
Et des ombres passaient sur votre front vermeil
Comme un [papillon noir]1 dans un rais de soleil.

Translation(s): ENG ITA

List of language codes

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Les caresses, Nouvelle Édition, Paris, G. Charpentier, [no date], page 5.

Authorship

• by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), no title, written 1877, appears in Les Caresses, in 1. Floréal, no. 2, Paris, Éd. M. Dreyfous, first published 1882 [ author's text checked 1 time]

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

• by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Le jour où je vous vis", op. 44 (Vingt Poemes de Jean Richepin) no. 11 (1890) [voice and piano], from Les caresses, no. 7, Éd. "Au Menestrel" Henri Heugel [
   text verified 1 time
  ]
• by Gabriel Dupont (1878 - 1914), "La rencontre", published 1911 [high voice and piano], from Les caresses, no. 1, Éd. Heugel [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Le jour où je vous vis", op. 48, Heft 1 (Floréal) no. 1 (1924), published 1927 [medium voice and piano], from Le poème de l'amour, no. 1, Éd. Henry Lemoine [
   text not verified 
  ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Corinne Orde) , title 1: "The day when I saw you", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Francesco Campanella) , title 1: "Il giorno che ti vidi", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

Last modified: 2016-01-12 17:37:21

Line count: 10
Word count: 88

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The day when I saw you

The day when I saw you for the first time,
You had an air that was sad and gay: in your voice
Captive nightingales wept, blackbirds whistled;
Your laughing mouth, where pearls formed like flowers,
Kept imperceptible creases at its two corners;
Your large blue eyes seemed like chalices filled
With the storm and drying the tears of rain
In the April breeze that sings and wipes them;
And shadows passed across your rosy brow
Like a black butterfly in a ray of sunlight.

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Authorship

• Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Corinne Orde, (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.
  
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• a text in French (Français) by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), no title, written 1877, appears in Les Caresses, in 1. Floréal, no. 2, Paris, Éd. M. Dreyfous, first published 1882 ITA
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): César Antonovich Cui, Gabriel Dupont, Louis Vierne. Go to the text.

Text added to the website: 2007-11-20 00:00:00.

Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:02:30

Line count: 10
Word count: 84