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Three songs of Baudelaire
by Robert Montfort (d. 1941)
View original-language texts alone: Trois poèmes de Baudelaire
Grands bois, vous m'effrayez comme des cathédrales ; Vous hurlez comme l'orgue ; et dans nos cœurs maudits, Chambres d'éternel deuil où vibrent de vieux râles, Répondent les échos de vos De profundis. Je te hais, Océan ! tes bonds et tes tumultes, Mon esprit les retrouve en lui ; ce rire amer De l'homme vaincu, plein de sanglots et d'insultes, Je l'entends dans le rire énorme de la mer. Comme tu me plairais, ô nuit ! sans ces étoiles Dont la lumière parle un langage connu ! Car je cherche le vide, et le noir, et le nu ! Mais les ténèbres sont elles-mêmes des toiles Où vivent, jaillissant de mon œil par milliers, Des êtres disparus aux regards familiers.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Obsession", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 79, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 178-179. Note: this was number 79 in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 81 in subsequent editions.
Great woods, you terrify me like cathedrals; You bellow like the organ; and in our accursed hearts, Rooms of eternal mourning where old death-rattles throb, Respond the echoes of your De Profundis. I hate you, Ocean! your leaping and your tumult, My spirit recognises them within itself; that bitter laughter Of the beaten man, full of sobs and insults, I hear it in the enormous laughter of the sea. How you would please me, o night! without those stars Whose light speaks a language I understand! Because I seek emptiness, and blackness, and nakedness! But the darkness is itself a canvas Where, springing from my eye by the thousands, live Vanished beings with familiar looks.
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Obsession", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 79, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
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This text was added to the website: 2012-10-09
Line count: 14
Word count: 115
J'ai long-temps habité sous de vastes portiques Que les soleils marins teignaient de mille feux, Et que leurs grands piliers, droits et majestueux, Rendaient pareils, le soir, aux grottes basaltiques. Les houles, en roulant les images des cieux, Mêlaient d'une façon solennelle et mystique Les tout puissants accords de leur riche musique Aux couleurs du couchant reflété par mes yeux. C'est là que j'ai vécu dans les voluptés calmes, Au milieu de l'azur, [des flots et des]1 splendeurs, Et des esclaves nus, tout imprégnés d'odeurs, Qui me rafraîchissaient le front avec des palmes, Et dont l'unique soin était d'approfondir Le secret douloureux qui me faisait languir.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La vie antérieure", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 12, Paris, Bureau de la Revue des Deux Mondes, first published 1855
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 36-37. This poem was first published in 1855 as part of Revue des Deux Mondes; its first publication as part of Les Fleurs du mal was in 1857.
1 H. Duparc: "des vagues, des"For a long time I lived beneath the immense porticoes That the sea-suns dyed with a thousand rays, And whose great columns, erect and majestic, At night seemed just like basalt grottoes. The rolling waves tossing the celestial images Blended in a solemn and mystic way The all-powerful chords of their rich music Coloured like the sunset reflected in my eyes It is there, there that I lived in tranquil luxury In the midst of the azure, the waves and the wonders, And the nude slaves imbued with fragrance Who refreshed my brow with palm leaves, And whose sole purpose was to understand in depth the agonising secret that made me suffer.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Dann Mitton, (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 Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La vie antérieure", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 12, Paris, Bureau de la Revue des Deux Mondes, first published 1855
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Translations of titles:
"La Vie antérieure" = "A previous life"
"Vie antérieure" = "A previous life"
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 112
La Nature est un temple où de vivants piliers Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles ; L'homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles Qui l'observent avec des regards familiers. Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent, Dans une ténébreuse et profonde unité, Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté, Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent. Il est des parfums frais comme des chairs d'enfants, Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies, -- Et d'autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants, Ayant l'expansion des choses infinies, Comme l'ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l'encens, Qui chantent les transports de l'esprit et des sens.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Correspondances", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 4, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 19-20. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 15-16. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Spleen et Idéal, page 92. Punctuation and formatting follows 1857 edition.
Nature is a temple where living pillars At times give voice to indistinct words; Man passes there through forests of symbols Which watch him with familiar gazes. Like long echoes which from a distance blend together In a mysterious and profound unity, Vast as the night and as the light, The fragrances, the colours and the sounds answer each other. There are fragrances fresh as the flesh of children, Sweet as oboes, green as meadows, -- And others, corrupt, rich and triumphant, With the growth of infinite things, Like amber, musk, benjamin and incense, Which sing the raptures of the spirit and the senses.
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Correspondances", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 4, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2012-10-09
Line count: 14
Word count: 103