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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

Les roses étaient toutes rouges
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG GER
Les roses étaient toutes rouges
Et les lierres étaient tout noirs.

Chère, pour peu que tu te bouges
Renaissent tous mes désespoirs.

Le ciel était trop bleu, trop tendre,
La mer trop verte et l'air trop doux.

Je crains toujours, -- ce qu'est d'attendre
Quelque fuite atroce de vous.

Du houx à la feuille vernie
Et du luisant buis je suis las,

Et de la campagne infinie
Et de tout, fors de vous, hélas !

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   A. Phaneuf 

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View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Spleen", appears in Romances sans paroles, in Aquarelles, no. 2 [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 Joseph Béesau (1871 - 1940), "Spleen", published 1920 [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 8, Paris, Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Robert Blanc (b. 1907), "Spleen", 1935, published 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Six mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 3, Bordeaux, R.J. Blanc [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Bordes (1863 - 1909), "Spleen", 1886, published 1902 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Mergault [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Alphonse-Eugène-Marie Catherine (1868 - 1927), "Spleen", published 1900 [ voice and orchestra ], from Deux mélodies pour chant et petit orchestre, no. 1, Paris, Quinzard [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Spleen", L. 63/(60) no. 6 (1885-7), published 1888 [ voice and piano ], from Ariettes oubliées, no. 6, Paris, Vve E. Girod [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Fidès Devriès (1852 - 1941?), "Spleen", published 1907 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Spleen", 1910, published 1927, Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Madeleine Dubois (1892 - 1969), "Spleen", published 1915 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Marius-François Gaillard (1900 - 1973), "Spleen", published 1917 [ voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Costallat [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Roger-Élie Jalowicz (1895 - 1989), "Spleen", published 1924 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Paul Ladmirault (1877 - 1944), "Spleen", <<1900 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour voix et piano, no. 6, Paris, Gallet [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Sylvio Lazzari (1857 - 1944), "Spleen", op. 19 no. 1, published 1894 [ voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Robert Louis Iwan Le Grand (1894 - 1964), "Les roses", [1945] [ voice and piano ], from Aquarelles, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Madeleine Lemariey (flourished c1900-1915), "Spleen", published 1913 [ voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Édition Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
  • by René-Jean Matter , "Les roses", [1952] [ soprano and piano ], from Trois mélodies pour soprano, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Marius Mille , "Spleen", [1926] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Frédéric Perrenoud (b. 1912), "Spleen", published [1958] [ voice and piano ], from Sagesse : Trois poèmes de Verlaine, no. 1, Paris, J.-F. Perrenoud [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Albert Phaneuf (1919 - 1978), as Maurice Dela, "Spleen", published 1949 [ voice and piano ], Canada, BMI Ltée [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Auguste Pierret (1874 - 1916), "Spleen", published 1895 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Baudoux [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Irena Regina Poldowski (1880 - 1932), "Spleen", published 1912 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Rœder [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Joseph Ryelandt (1870 - 1965), "Tristesse", op. 19 (Six mélodies) no. 5 (1897), published 1914 [ medium voice and piano ], Liège, Éd. Veuve Leopold Muraille [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Henry Sauveplane (1892 - 1942), "Spleen", published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Sauveplane ; Paris, Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis Schopfer (1867 - 1926), "Spleen", published 1912 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq mélodies, no. 5, Paris, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jerzy Sokorski , "Spleen", 1956 [ voice and piano ], from Poésie de Paul Verlaine [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean.-P. Strauwen , "Spleen", [1942] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Spleen", op. 38 no. 3 (1916), published 1924 [ voice and orchestra or piano ], from Spleens et Détresses, no. 3, Paris, Salabert [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Ernest Christopher Dowson (1867 - 1900) , no title, appears in Decorations, in After Paul Verlaine, no. 3, first published 1899 ; composed by John Ireland.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Stefan George (1868 - 1933) , "Spleen", appears in Zeitgenössische Dichter, in Frankreich, in Paul Verlaine, in Aus: Lieder ohne Worte ; composed by Winfried Zillig.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Arthur Grüber.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in Norwegian (Bokmål), a translation by Andreas Grimelund Jynge (1870 - 1955) ; composed by Johan Selmer.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in Serbian (Српски), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Anton Lajovic.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) [singable] (Núria Colomer) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Corinne Orde) , "Spleen", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-20
Line count: 12
Word count: 75

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