Belle lune d'argent,
j'aime à te voir briller
Sur les mâts inégaux
d'un port plein de paresse,
Et je rêve bien mieux
quand ton rayon caresse
Dans un vieux parc le marbre
où je viens m'appuyer.

J'aime ton jeune éclat
et tes beautés fanées,
[Je t'aime]1 sur un lac,
sur un sable argentin
Et dans la vaste nuit
de la plaine sans fin…
Et dans mon cher Paris
en haut des cheminées.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Gaubert: "Tu me plais"

Text Authorship:

• by Ioannes Papadiamantopoulos (1856 - 1910), as Jean Moréas, no title, appears in Les Stances, in 3. Stances, troisième livre, no. 10, Paris, Éd. de La Plume, first published 1901 [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 Jean Dupérier (1886 - 1976), "Belle lune d'argent", published [1927] [ mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano ], from La Saison passagère, no. 3, Paris, Édition Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "Belle lune d'argent", op. 45 no. 1 (1935) [ voice and piano ], from Quatre Stances, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Philippe Gaubert (1879 - 1941), "Belle lune d'argent", published 1929 [ medium voice and piano ], from Les stances, no. 3, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Belle lune d'argent", published 1904, first performed 1906 [ medium voice and piano ], from Les feuilles blessées, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , "Beautiful silver moon", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Sylvain Labartette , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2004-12-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 73