English translation of Donne-moi cette fleur

by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Donne-moi cette fleur", CG 375 (c1867), published 1869 [ voice and piano ]

Note: this is a translation of one multi-text setting.

Donne-moi cette fleur meurtrie
Entre ta ceinture et ton cœur ;
Je la veux triste et sans couleur,
Donne-la-moi pâle et flétrie.

Ni la rose, éternelle fée,
Ni ce lys qui vient de s'ouvrir,
Ne valent le dernier soupir
De la pauvre fleur étoufée.

Doux échange qui ravit l'âme,
La femme a gardé dans son cœur
Le plus doux parfum de la fleur,
La fleur, le parfum de la femme.

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Note: serialized in Revue Française, Year 1, Vol. 3, 10 December, 1855, ed. by Eugène Oger and Jean Morel, found on pages 257-277 and 305-324 (the poem above is on p. 273; confirmed with Léon Gozlan, L'Amour des lèvres et l'amour du cœur, Paris, Librairie Nouvelle, 1858, page 321, titled "Romance"

Note provided by Dr Melissa Givens: The "Romance" in question is sung during a gathering of friends in the first installment of the novel. A character describes a "pastel marriage," on pp. 264-265. Mme Brunoy hands the Doctor a faded landscape. She says that just as there are paintings in oil, watercolor, pencil, and pastels, there are marriages made of the same materials. Pastel marriages "... are very lively, colorful, dazzling, passionate, so seductive, that from a distance one would think them in oil; but they have a great defect, they fade, they fade from year to year, and they finish, like this landscape that you hold, Doctor, by seeing only the paper. Unfortunately, this paper, the only testimony that remains, is the very act of marriage. My marriage is pastel, and, like this landscape, my marriage is henceforth an effaced, extinct thing, a dead thing."


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Dr Melissa Givens [Guest Editor] 
Cette fleur je l'avais cueillie
À tes pieds, au bord du chemin!
Tu me dis en tendant la main:
Donne-la-moi fraîche et jolie!

À ces bois où l'oiseau soupire,
Nous avons conté nos secrets!
Rêveuse, tu la respirais,
Et la fleur cachait ton sourire!

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Note: in Gounod's score, a footnote appears above "Cette fleur..." and the note informs us: "Les paroles de la 2de strophe sont de J.B." The Bibliothèque nationale de France Catalogue confirms this is Jules Barbier. The indication that these words form the "2de strophe" seem to imply that the first three stanzas by Gozlan should be considered one unit, but we have left them as they were published by Gozlan - in three separate stanzas. We have also left the above text in two-stanza format to remain consistent; however, when displaying this as a song text in a concert program or CD booklet, it would be reasonable to show a 12-line strophe followed by an 8-line strophe as suggested by the footnote in the score.


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Dr Melissa Givens [Guest Editor]
Author(s): Léon Gozlan (1806 - 1866), (Paul) Jules Barbier (1825 - 1901)
Give me this flower 
crushed between your girdle and your heart! 
I want it sad and colourless, 
give it to me, pale and wilted.

Neither the rose, eternal fairy, 
nor the just-opened lily 
is worth the poor 
smothered blossom's last sigh.

Sweet exchange that steals the soul. 
The woman has kept in her heart 
the flower's sweetest perfume,
the flower, the woman's perfume.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (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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I plucked this flower 
at your feet by the roadside. 
You held out your hand to me 
and asked me to give it to you, fresh and pretty. 

We told our secrets 
to these woods where the bird sighs. 
Dreaming, you sniffed it 
and the flower hid your smile!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2021 by Faith J. Cormier, (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: 

Based on:

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Translation © by Faith J. Cormier