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Je t'adore à l'égal de la voûte nocturne, Ô vase de tristesse, ô grande taciturne, Et t'aime d'autant plus, belle, que tu me fuis, Et que tu me parais, ornement de mes nuits, Plus ironiquement accumuler les lieues Qui séparent mes bras des immensités bleues. Je m'avance à l'attaque, et je grimpe aux assauts, Comme après un cadavre un chœur de vermisseaux, Et je chéris, ô bête implacable et cruelle, Jusqu'à cette froideur par où tu m'es plus belle !
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, page 56. Note: this was number 22 in the first edition but number 24 in subsequent editions.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 24, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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 Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "Je t'adore", op. 48 no. 3, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal, no. 3, Moscow: Gutheil, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean Neymarck (1889 - 1913), "Je t'adore à l'égal de la voûte nocturne", op. 21 no. 3 (1912), published 1913 [ voice and piano ], from 4 Poèmes, poésies de Baudelaire, no. 3, Paris, Éd. L. Grus [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Já tebe zbožňuji…"
- ENG English (Emily Wyatt) , "I love you", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 79
I adore you as much as I love the nocturnal vault, O vessel of sadness, o grandly silent one, And I love you all the more, fair one, because you flee me, And because to me you appear, ornament of my nights, Ironically, more to pile up the distance Which separate my arms from the blue vastnesses. I advance to the attack, and I mount assaults, Like a swarm of maggots after a corpse, And I cherish you, o beast, implacable and cruel! As far as that coldness for which you are more beautiful to me!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by Emily Wyatt, (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:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 24, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
This text was added to the website: 2012-10-09
Line count: 10
Word count: 96