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Voici d’anciens désirs qui passent, Encor des songes de lassés, Encor des rêves qui se lassent ; Voilà les jours d’espoir passés ! En qui faut-il fuir aujourd’hui ! Il n’y a plus d’étoile aucune : Mais de la [glace]1 sur l’ennui Et des linges bleus sous la lune. Encor des sanglots pris au piège ! Voyez les malades sans feu, Et les agneaux brouter la neige ; Ayez pitié de tout, mon Dieu ! Moi, j’attends un peu de réveil, Moi, j’attends que le sommeil passe, Moi, j’attends un peu de soleil Sur mes mains que la lune glace.
1 Boulanger: "neige"
Confirmed with Maurice Maeterlinck, Serres chaudes, Bruxelles: Paul Lacomblez, 1912, p.41
Text Authorship:
- by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Heures ternes", written 1889, appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. L. Vanier,, first published 1889 [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 Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979), "Heures ternes", copyright © 1914, first performed 1910 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean-Émile-Paul Cras (1879 - 1932), "Heures ternes", subtitle: "Tedium", LBo 21/15 (1900) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luís de Freitas Branco (1890 - 1955), "Heures Ternes", 1913, published 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from Canções Francesas - Serres chaudes, Ciclo Maeterlinckiano, no. 2, Éd. Musicoteca Lisboa [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Dull hours", copyright © 2020
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-04-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 94
Here are old desires that fade, More dreams of the weary, More dreams that bore us; Those hopeful days are gone! To where can we flee on such a day? There are no more stars: Only ennui beneath a crust of ice And beneath the moon, sheets of blue. More sobs trapped! Look at the ill without fire, And the lambs grazing on snow; Have pity on us all, my God! As for me, I wait for the awakening call; I wait for sleep to pass, I wait for a little sunlight To fall on my hands frozen by the moon.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Heures ternes", written 1889, appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. L. Vanier,, first published 1889
This text was added to the website: 2020-07-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 101