by René-François Sully-Prudhomme (1839 - 1907)
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)
Si j'étais Dieu
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG
Si j'étais Dieu, la mort serait sans proie,
Les hommes seraient bons, j'abolirais l'adieu,
Et nous ne verserions que des larmes de joie,
Si j'étais Dieu.
Si j'étais Dieu, de beaux fruits sans écorces
Mûriraient; le travail ne serait plus qu'un jeu,
Car nous n'agirions plus que pour sentir nos forces,
Si j'étais Dieu.
Si j'étais Dieu, pour toi, celle que j'aime,
Je déploirais un ciel toujours frais, toujours bleu;
Mais je te laisserais, ô mon ange, la même,
Si j'étais Dieu.
Text Authorship:
- by René-François Sully-Prudhomme (1839 - 1907), "Si j'étais Dieu", appears in Stances et Poèmes, in 1. Stances, in Femmes, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [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 René de Boisdeffre (1838 - 1906), "Si j'étais Dieu", op. 68 no. 4, published 1896 [ voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, recueil 6, no. 4, Paris, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Enescu (1881 - 1955), "Si j'étais Dieu", 1897/8 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Hachette [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hercule Gilles de Fontenailles (1858 - 1922), "Si j'étais Dieu", published 1897 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jenő Hubay (1858 - 1937), "Si j'étais Dieu", op. 17 (Cinq mélodies) no. 5, published 1890 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Maude Valérie White (1855 - 1937), "Si j'étais Dieu", published 1893 [ voice and piano ], London, Robert Cocks & Co [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Kdybych byl bohem"
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "If I were God", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Gyula Reviczky)
Researcher for this page: Peter Brixius
This text was added to the website: 2008-04-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 82
Kdybych byl bohem
Language: Czech (Čeština) after the French (Français)
Tu bez kořisti smrt, tu nebylo by pekla,
já všecko loučení bych na vždy odstranil,
jen slza radosti by z očí našich tekla,
kdybych bohem byl.
Tu plody bez kůry by na všech stromech zrály
a práce veškerá by byla kratochvíl,
jen cítit síly své by lidé v svět se hnali,
kdybych bohem byl.
A dítě, pro tebe, již miluji, bych spěchal,
by azur na nebi se v mraky nestajil —
však tebe, anděli, bych takou, jak jsi, nechal,
kdybych bohem byl.
Confirmed with Poesie francouzská nové doby, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha :Ed. Grégr, 1877. page 302.
Text Authorship:
- by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Kdybych byl bohem" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by René-François Sully-Prudhomme (1839 - 1907), "Si j'étais Dieu", appears in Stances et Poèmes, in 1. Stances, in Femmes, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-19
Line count: 12
Word count: 82