La Nuit, sur le grand mystère
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: CAT CHI ENG
La Nuit, [sur le grand]1 mystère,
Entr'ouvre ses écrins bleus :
Autant de fleurs sur la terre,
Que d'étoiles dans les cieux !
On voit ses ombres dormantes
S'éclairer, à tous moments,
Autant par les fleurs charmantes
Que par les astres charmants.
Moi, ma Nuit au sombre voile
N'a, pour charme et pour clarté,
Qu'une fleur et qu'une étoile :
Mon amour et ta beauté !
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Anthologie des poètes français du XIXème siècle, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1887, page 453.
1 Gouzien: "au brillant"; further changes may exist not shown above.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Léon Boëllmann (1862 - 1897), "La nuit ", op. 26 no. 2 (1896), published 1896 [ high voice and piano ], from Conte d’Amour, no. 2, Édition Baudoux [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Nocturne", op. 43 no. 2 (1886), published 1886 [ voice and piano ], Éditions Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Georges Flé , "Éblouissement", published 1898 [ high voice and piano ], from Poésies mises en musique, no. 8, Édition du Mercure de France [sung text not yet checked]
- by Armand Gouzien (1839 - 1892), "La nuit" [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Ryelandt (1870 - 1965), "Éblouissement", op. 19 (Six mélodies) no. 4 (1897), published 1914 [ medium voice and piano ], Liège, Éd. Veuve Leopold Muraille [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (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: 12
Word count: 63
Night half‑opens its blue casket
Language: English after the French (Français)
Night half-opens its blue casket
onto the great mystery:
as many flowers on the earth
as stars in the heavens!
We see its sleeping shades
light up, at every moment,
as much from the charming flowers
as from the charming stars.
But my own Night with its sombre veil,
lacks charm and brightness,
except for one flower and one star:
my love and your beauty!
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2022-09-05
Line count: 12
Word count: 65
