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La douleur aiguise les sens; - Hélas! ma mignonne est partie! - Et dans la nature je sens Une secrète sympathie. Je sens que les nids querelleurs Par égard pour moi se contraignent, Que je fais de la peine aux fleurs Et que les étoiles me plaignent. La fauvette semble en effet De son chant joyeux avoir honte, Le lys sait le mal qu'il me fait, Et l'étoile aussi s'en rend compte. En eux j'entends, respire et vois La chère absente, et je regrette Ses yeux, son haleine et sa voix, Qui sont astres, lys et fauvette.
Confirmed with Oeuvres Complètes de François Coppée Paris L. Hébert 1885 Poésies - Tome II pp. 299-300
Text Authorship:
- by François Coppée (1842 - 1908), "Pitié des choses", written 1877, appears in Les Récits et les Élégies, in Élégies, in 2. L'Exilée, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1877 [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 Paul-Charles-Marie Curet (1848 - 1917), as Paul Charles Marie Puget, "Pitié des choses" [ high voice and piano ], from Poème de l'absence, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Vve. E. Girod [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jenő Hubay (1858 - 1937), "Pitié des choses", op. 71 no. 2 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henri Marteau (1874 - 1934), "Pitié des choses", op. 19b no. 7 (c1917) [ voice and piano ], from Huit Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Naudier , "Pitié des choses", <<1910 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Cornélie van Oosterzee (1863 - 1943), "Pitié des choses", op. 54 no. 2, published 1905 [ voice and piano ], from Chansons sentimentales, no. 2, Middelburg : Noske [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Michael Berridge) , "The pity of the things around me", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-01-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 95
Pain sharpens the senses, – Alas! my darling is gone! – and in Nature I sense a secret sympathy. I am aware that the quarrelsome nests restrain themselves from respect for me, that I make the flowers feel sorry for me and that the stars mourn for me. The whitethroat seems truly ashamed of her joyful song, the lily knows the harm it does me and the star takes note of it too. In them I hear, breathe and see the absent beloved, and I regret losing her eyes, her breath and her voice that are stars, lily and whitethroat.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Michael Berridge, (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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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by François Coppée (1842 - 1908), "Pitié des choses", written 1877, appears in Les Récits et les Élégies, in Élégies, in 2. L'Exilée, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1877
This text was added to the website: 2020-01-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 100