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Ton [âme]1 est un lac d'amour Dont mes désirs sont les cygnes. Vois comme ils en font le tour, Comme ils y creusent des lignes ! Voyageurs aventureux Ils vont, les ailes ouvertes. Rien n'est ignoré par eux, Des flots bleus aux îles vertes. Bruyants et pompeux, les uns Sont d'un blanc que rien n'égale, Désirs nés dans les parfums Par un soleil de Bengale. [D'autres sont muets]2 et noirs, [Avec]3 un air de mystère, Désirs nés pendant les soirs, Où tout s'endort sur la terre. Sans nombre sont ces oiseaux Que ton âme voit éclore. Combien déjà sur les eaux, Et combien à naître encore !4 Point de halte ! à tout moment, D'arrivants le bord se charge. Ceux d'hier pensivement S'en vont alors vers le large. Bientôt l'œil doit les laisser Pour le présent qui réclame Eux ne cessent de glisser Vers les profondeurs de l'âme. Et [dans un accord]5 béni, Sur ce cristal d'eau sans brumes, On entend à l'infini Frissonner au vent des plumes.
R. Hahn sets stanzas 1-5
C. Saint-Saëns sets stanzas 1-2, 5-6, 8
Confirmed with Les nuits persanes par Armand Renaud, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1870, pages 110-111.
1 Saint-Saëns: "cœur"2 Hahn: "Les autres, muets"
3 Hahn: "Ont comme"
4 Hahn:
Ton âme est un lac d'amour Dont mes désirs sont les cygnes. Vois comme ils en font le tour de ton âme!5 Saint-Saëns: "sur ce miroir"
Text Authorship:
- by Armand Renaud (1836 - 1895), "Les Cygnes", written 1870, appears in Les nuits persanes, in 6. La vallée de l'union, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1870 [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 Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Les Cygnes", 1893/1894, published 1894, stanzas 1-5 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 15, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Les Cygnes", op. 26b no. 7 (1891), published 1892, first performed 1892, stanzas 1-2,5-6,8 [ vocal duet for tenor and contralto, chorus ad libitum, piano or orchestra ], from cantata Nuit persane, no. 7, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The Swans", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 170
Your [soul]1 is a lake of love In which my desires are swans. See how they make the rounds, As they create wakes behind them! Adventurous explorers They advance, their wings outspread. Nothing is ignored by them, From blue waves to green islands. Noisy and bombastic, each Possess a whiteness without equal, Desires born into the redolence Of a Bengali sun. [Others are mute]2 and black, [With]2 an air of mystery, Desires born during the evenings, Where the whole earth drifts off to sleep. Innumerable are these birds Which your soul may see hatching. How many already on the waters, And how many are yet to be born!4 Don’t hesitate! At any moment, New arrivals will charge the shore While yesterday’s crop pensively Head out to sea. Soon you must tear your eyes away from them For the present demands That they never cease to glide Towards the depths of the soul. And in a blessed harmony, Over this crystal sheen of limpid water, One hears forever The rustling of feathers in the wind.
1 Saint-Saëns: "heart"
2 Hahn: "The others, mute"
3 Hahn: "Having"
4 Hahn:
Your soul is a lake of love Whole deepest desires are swans. See how they make the rounds of your soul!5 "in this blessed mirror"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2024 by Laura Prichard, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Armand Renaud (1836 - 1895), "Les Cygnes", written 1870, appears in Les nuits persanes, in 6. La vallée de l'union, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1870
This text was added to the website: 2024-04-24
Line count: 32
Word count: 178