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by Arsène Housset (1815 - 1896), as Arsène Houssaye

La beauté
Language: French (Français) 
Armé du ciseau d'or, le divin Praxitèle 
Cherchait dans le Paros la Venus Astarté ;
Mais il ne trouvait pas : « O Vénus immortelle ! 
Descends du ciel et parle à mon marbre lacté. »

Du nuage d'argent Vénus descendra-t-elle ?
« Qu'importe? s'écria Praxitèle irrité;
Daphné, Léa, Délie, Hélène, Héro, Myrtelle,
Me donnent par fragments l'idéale beauté. »

L'artiste ainsi créa Vénus victorieuse.
S'il vous eût rencontrée, ô beauté radieuse,
Femme et déesse, amour des hommes et des dieux !

Il eût fait sa Vénus sans détourner les yeux,
Ou plutôt, embrasé des feux de l'Empyrée,
Il eut brisé son marbre et vous eût adorée.

Text Authorship:

  • by Arsène Housset (1815 - 1896), as Arsène Houssaye, "La beauté", appears in Les légendes de la jeunesse, Paris, Éd. A. Laplace, first published 1867 [author's text not yet checked 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 Édouard Garnier (1821 - 1887), "La beauté", published <<1878 [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt sonnets mis en musique, no. 14, Paris, Éditions Alphonse Leduc [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2020-05-29
Line count: 14
Word count: 102

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