English translations of Huit Mélodies, opus 32

by Edouard Flament (1880 - 1958)

1. Dernier vœu [sung text not yet checked]

by Edouard Flament (1880 - 1958), "Dernier vœu", op. 32 (Huit Mélodies) no. 4 (1918) [ baritone or bass and piano ], Paris, La Parisienne G. Lorette

Language: French (Français)

Voilà longtemps que je vous aime :
-- L'aveu remonte à dix-huit ans ! --
Vous êtes rose, je suis blême ;
J'ai les hivers, vous les printemps.

Des lilas blancs de cimetière
Près de mes tempes ont fleuri ;
J'aurai bientôt la touffe entière
Pour ombrager mon front flétri.

Mon soleil pâli qui décline
Va disparaître à l'horizon,
Et sur la funèbre colline
Je vois ma dernière maison.

Oh ! que de votre lèvre il tombe
Sur ma lèvre un tardif baiser,
Pour que je puisse dans ma tombe,
Le cœur tranquille, reposer !

Text Authorship:

by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "Dernier vœu", written 1866?, appears in Émaux et Camées, Paris, Éd. Charpentier & Cie, first published 1872

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by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872)

1. Last Wish

Language: English

I've loved you for a long time:
– This confession hearkens back eighteen years! –
You are pink, yet I am pale;
I have winters, but you, the springs.

White funerary lilacs
Near my temples have bloomed;
I shall soon have the whole clump
To shade my withered brow.

My fading, setting sun
Will disappear on the horizon,
And on the mournful hill
I see my last home.

Oh, from your lips, fall
A late kiss on mine.
So that I may, in my grave,
With a tranquil heart, rest!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Qi Feng Wu, (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 Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "Dernier vœu", written 1866?, appears in Émaux et Camées, Paris, Éd. Charpentier & Cie, first published 1872
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Translator's note for stanza 2, line 2, word 3 : here the word "temple" refers to the anatomical place between the eye and the ear, a little above eye-level.

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-06
Line count: 16
Word count: 90