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Fut-il jamais douceur de cœur pareille
À voir Manon dans mes bras sommeiller ?
Son front coquet parfume l'oreiller ;
Dans son beau sein, j'entends son cœur qui veille.
Un songe passe, et s'en vient l'égayer.
Ainsi s'endort la fleur d'églantier
Dans son calice enfermant une abeille.
Moi, je la berce ; un plus charmant métier,
Fut-il jamais ?
Mais le jour vient, et l'aurore vermeille
Effeuille au vent son [bouquet printanier]1.
Le peigne en main et la perle à l'oreille,
À son miroir Manon [court]2 m'oublier.
Hélas ! l'amour sans lendemain ni veille
Fut-il jamais ?
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Alfred de Musset, Poésies nouvelles (1836-1852), Charpentier, 1857, page 210.
1 Debussy: "printemps virginal"2 Debussy: "va"
Text Authorship:
- by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), "Rondeau", written 1842, appears in Poésies nouvelles [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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Rondeau: "Fut-il jamais"", L. 17/(30) (1882) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gaston Doin (1878 - 1962), "Le rondeau à Manon", published 1950 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies romantiques, no. 2, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Fiévet (1892 - 1980), "Fut-il jamais", published 1924 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Buffet-Crampon & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Guimet (1836 - 1918), "Fut-il jamais" [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons d'amour, no. 24, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerck [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernest-Louis-Victor-Jules L'Épine (1826 - 1893), "Rondeau", published [1868] [ high voice and piano ], from 22 Scènes et Chansons, no. 13, Éd. G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Rondo: Was there ever such sweetness of heart", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Low [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 94
Was there ever such sweetness of heart
as seeing Manon in my arms sleeping?
Her coquettish brow perfumes the pillow;
in her beautiful breast I hear her heart still awake;
a dream passes and makes her cheerful.
This is how an eglantine flower sleeps
With a bee enclosed in its calyx.
I rock her. Was there ever a more charming task,
was there ever?
But day comes, and the reddish Dawn
with its wind strips her virginal springtime.
With comb in hand and pearls in her earlobes
Manon at her mirror is going to forget me.
Alas! Was there ever love with no tomorrow or yesterday,
was there ever?
Note: this is a translation of Debussy's version.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2010 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), "Rondeau", written 1842, appears in Poésies nouvelles
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 109