Five songs of Venice

Translations © by Emily Ezust

Song Cycle by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)

View original-language texts alone: Cinq mélodies "de Venise"

1. Mandoline
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Les donneurs de sérénades
Et les belles écouteuses
Échangent des propos fades
Sous les ramures chanteuses.

C'est Tircis et c'est Aminte,
Et c'est l'éternel Clitandre,
Et c'est Damis qui pour mainte
Cruelle fit maint vers tendre.

Leurs courtes vestes de soie,
Leurs longues robes à queues,
Leur élégance, leur joie
Et leurs molles ombres bleues

Tourbillonnent dans l'extase
D'une lune rose et grise,
Et la mandoline jase
Parmi les frissons de brise.

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), title 1: "Mandoline", title 2: "Trumeau", written 1867, appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 15, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1867

See other settings of this text.

Note: first appeared in La Gazette rimée, February 20, 1867, under the title "Trumeau", and then in Fêtes galantes, Paris, éd. Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, under the title "Mandoline".

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
1. Mandolin
Language: English 
The givers of serenades
And the lovely women who listen
Exchange insipid words
Under the singing branches.

There is Thyrsis and Amyntas
And there's the eternal Clytander,
And there's Damis who, for many a
Heartless woman, wrote many a tender verse.

Their short silk coats,
Their long dresses with trains,
Their elegance, their joy
And their soft blue shadows,

Whirl around in the ecstasy
Of a pink and grey moon,
And the mandolin prattles
Among the shivers from the breeze.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

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Translation of title "Mandoline" = "Mandolin"


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 80

Translation © by Emily Ezust
2. En sourdine
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Calmes dans le demi-jour
Que les branches hautes font,
Pénétrons bien notre amour
De ce silence profond.

Mêlons nos âmes, nos cœurs
Et nos sens extasiés,
Parmi les vagues langueurs
Des pins et des arbousiers.

Ferme tes yeux à demi,
Croise tes bras sur ton sein,
Et de ton cœur endormi
Chasse à jamais tout dessein.

Laissons-nous persuader
Au souffle berceur et doux,
Qui vient à tes pieds rider
Les ondes des gazons roux.

Et quand, solennel, le soir
Des chênes noirs tombera,
Voix de notre désespoir,
Le rossignol chantera.

Text Authorship:

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Note: The ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
2. Muted
Language: English 
Calm in the half-day
That the high branches make,
Let us soak well our love
In this profound silence.

Let us mingle our souls, our hearts
And our ecstatic senses
Among the vague langours
Of the pines and the bushes.

Close your eyes halfway,
Cross your arms on your breast,
And from your sleeping heart
Chase away forever all plans.

Let us abandon ourselves
To the breeze, rocking and soft,
Which comes to your feet to wrinkle
The waves of auburn lawns.

And when, solemnly, the evening
From the black oaks falls,
The voice of our despair,
The nightingale, will sing.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 101

Translation © by Emily Ezust
3. Green
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches
Et puis voici mon cœur qui ne bat que pour vous.
Ne le déchirez pas avec vos deux mains blanches
Et qu'à vos yeux si beaux l'humble présent soit doux.

J'arrive tout couvert encore de rosée
Que le vent du matin vient glacer à mon front.
Souffrez que ma fatigue, à vos pieds reposée,
Rêve des chers instants qui la délasseront.

Sur votre jeune sein laissez rouler ma tête
Toute sonore encore de vos derniers baisers ;
Laissez-la s'apaiser de la bonne tempête,
Et que je dorme un peu puisque vous reposez.

Text Authorship:

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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
3. Green
Language: English 
Here are some fruit, some flowers, some leaves and some branches,
And then here is my heart, which beats only for you.
Do not rip it up with your two white hands,
And may the humble present be sweet in your beautiful eyes!

I arrive all coverered in dew,
Which the wind of morning comes to freeze on my forehead.
Suffer my fatigue as I repose at your feet,
Dreaming of dear instants that will refresh me.

On your young breast allow my head to rest,
Still ringing with your last kisses;
Let it calm itself after the pleasant tempest,
And let me sleep a little, since you are resting.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

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Translations of titles
"Green" = "Green"
"Voici des fruits" = "Here are some fruit"



This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 110

Translation © by Emily Ezust
4. À Clymène
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Mystiques barcarolles,
Romances sans paroles,
Chère, puisque tes yeux,
  Couleur des cieux,

Puisque ta voix, étrange
Vision qui dérange
Et trouble l'horizon
  De ma raison,

Puisque l'arôme insigne
De ta pâleur de cygne,
Et puisque la candeur
  De ton odeur,

Ah ! puisque tout ton être,
Musique qui pénètre,
Nimbes d'anges défunts,
  Tons et parfums,

A, sur d'almes cadences,
En ses correspondances
Induit mon cœur subtil,
  Ainsi soit-il !

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 35-36.

Note: The ampersand (&) as appears in the first publication is changed to "et".


by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
4. To Clymène
Language: English 
Mystic barcarolles,
Songs without words,
My darling, because your eyes,
The color of the heavens,

Because your voice, strange
Vision that upsets
And troubles the horizon
Of my reason.

Because the wonderful aroma
Of your cygnet-like pallor.
And because the distinctness
Of your fragrance.

Ah! Because your entire existence,
Like music that pervades all,
Nimbuses of former angels,
Tones and perfumes.

Has, in wondrous cadences,
Attracted into a connection
My subtle heart:
Let it be praised! Amen.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 77

Translation © by Emily Ezust
5. C'est l'extase
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
C'est l'extase langoureuse,
C'est la fatigue amoureuse,
C'est tous les frissons des bois
Parmi l'étreinte des brises,
C'est vers les ramures grises
Le choeur des petites voix.

O le frêle et frais murmure !
Cela gazouille et susurre,
Cela ressemble au bruit doux
Que l'herbe agitée expire...
Tu dirais, sous l'eau qui vire,
Le roulis sourd des cailloux.

Cette âme qui se lamente
Et cette plainte dormante
C'est la nôtre, n'est-ce pas ?
La mienne, dis, et la tienne,
Dont s'exhale l'humble antienne
Par ce tiède soir, tout bas ?

Text Authorship:

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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
5. It is the langorous ecstasy
Language: English 
It is the langorous ecstasy,
It is the fatigue after love,
It is all the rustling of the wood,
In the embrace of breezes;
It is near the gray branches:
A chorus of tiny voices.

Oh, what a frail and fresh murmur!
It babbles and whispers,
It resembles the soft noise
That waving grass exhales.
You might say it were, under the bending stream,
The muffled sound of rolling pebbles.

This soul, which laments
And this dormant moan,
It is ours, is it not?
Is it [not] mine[?] -- tell [me] -- and yours,
Whose humble anthem we breathe
On this mild evening, so very quietly?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.


Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 104

Translation © by Emily Ezust