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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926)
Translation © by Corinne Orde

Le jour où je vous vis pour la première...
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG ITA
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.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Cui 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

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

1 Cui: "noir papillon"

Text 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 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 César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Le jour où je vous vis", op. 44 no. 11 (1890) [ voice and piano ], from Vingt Poèmes de Jean Richepin, no. 11, Éd. "Au Menestrel" Henri Heugel, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Gabriel Dupont (1878 - 1914), "La rencontre", published 1911 [ high voice and piano ], from Les caresses, no. 1, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • 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 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by César Antonovich Cui.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

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


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 85

The day when I saw you
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
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.

Text 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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • 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
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2007-11-20
Line count: 10
Word count: 84

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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