Four poems after Heinrich Heine's "Intermezzo"

Song Cycle by Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (1864 - 1955)

View original-language texts alone: Quatre Poèmes d'après l'Intermezzo d'Heinrich Heine

1.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Tendrement enlacés, ma chère bien-aimée
Nous nous étions assis dans un esquif léger,
Et par le calme soir, nous nous laissions nager
Sur les moires d'une eau limpide et parfumée.

L'île mystérieuse où vivent les esprits,
Dessinait vaguement ses formes anguleuses;
Sous la lune flottaient des danses nébuleuses,
Et des sons sensuels d'instruments désappris

Et la ronde toujours reserrait sa spirale
Et les sons devenaient plus suaves toujours
Et pourtant nous voguions abandonnés au cours
De l'onde sans espoir sous la lueur astrale.

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by Pierre-René Hirsch (1870 - 1891) and by Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (1864 - 1955)
1.
Language: English 
Tenderly intertwined, my dearly beloved,
We sat down in a small skiff,
And, in the calm evening, we let ourselves float
On the ripples of clear and perfumed waters.

The mysterious island where the spirits lives
Sketches vaguely its angular forms;
Under the moon floats nebulous dances
And somber sounds of unremembered instruments.

Et la ronde toujours resserrait sa spirale
And its sound became sweeter still,
And yet we sailed on, abandoned to the course
Of the wave, without hope under the starry light.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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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This text was added to the website: 2007-08-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 84

Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail
2.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
 Pourquoi vois-je pâlir la rose parfumée?
 Dis-moi, dis-moi, ma bien-aimée,
 Dis-moi pourquoi!
 Pourquoi, dans le gazon touffu, les violettes,
 Si fraîches d'habitude, ont-elles aujourd'hui
 Un air d'ennui?
 Pourquoi le chant des alouettes
 Si nostalgiquement meurt-il par les chemins?
 Pourquoi s'exhale-t-il des bosquets de jasmins
 La funéraire odeur qui sort des cassolettes?
 Pourquoi, semblable au feu suprême d'un flambeau
 Qui s'éteint, le soleil à l'horizon sans borne
 Jette-t-il un éclat moins ardent et moins beau?
 Pourquoi la terre entière est-elle grise et morne
 Comme un tombeau?
 Pourquoi suis-je si las, si triste et si malade?
 Ma chère bien-aimée oh! dis-le, dis-le moi,
 Si tu, trouves encore un mot qui persuade,
 Dis-moi pourquoi tu m'as abandonné?
 Pourquoi?

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by Pierre-René Hirsch (1870 - 1891) and by Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (1864 - 1955)
2.
Language: English 
Why do I see the perfumed rose pale?
Tell me, tell me, o my beloved, tell me why!
Why, in the fluffy grass, do the violets,
Usually so fresh, today possess
An air of boredom?
Why does the song of the larks
So nostalgically die on the roads?
Why do the bouquets of jasmine exhale
The death-tinged fragrance of incense?
Why, like the final fire of a just-extinguished torch
does the sun on the limitless horizon
Shine a beam less blazing and less beautiful?
Why is the whole world gray and mournful
Like a tombstone?
Why am I so weary, so sad, and so sick?
My dearly beloved, oh tell why, tell me why,
If you can still find a word which can persuade me,
Tell me why you have left me?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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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This text was added to the website: 2007-08-17
Line count: 18
Word count: 132

Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail
3.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Ceux qui, parmi les morts d'amour,
Ont péri par le suicide
Sont enterrés au carrefour
Là s'épanouit et réside

Une fleur bleue étrange fleur
Aussi rare que sa couleur
Aucun nom ne l'a désignée
C'est la fleur de l'âme damnée!

Pendant la nuit au carrefour
Je soupire dans le silence
Au clair de lune se balance
La fleur des damnés de l'amour!

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by Pierre-René Hirsch (1870 - 1891) and by Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (1864 - 1955)
3. Among those who died from love
Language: English 
Among those who died from love,
Those who perished by suicide
Are buried at the crossroads.
There blossoms and resides

A blue flower, a strange flower
As rare as its color.
No name has it been given;
It is the flower of the damned soul!

During the night at the crossroads,
I breathe in the silence.
In the moonlight sways
The flower of those damned through love!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2006 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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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This text was added to the website: 2006-11-25
Line count: 12
Word count: 67

Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail
4.
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Depuis que nul rayon de tes yeux bien-aimés
N'arrive plus aux miens obstinément fermés,
Je suis enveloppé de ténèbres morales.
L'étoile de l'amour s'est éteinte pour moi
Plus de douce clarté, rien que l'ombre et l'effroi!
Un gouffre large ouvert me veut dans ses spirales
Nuit éternelle engloutis-moi!

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by Pierre-René Hirsch (1870 - 1891) and by Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (1864 - 1955)
4.
Language: English 
Since no ray from your beloved eyes
Will ever again arrive at mine, so obstinately closed,
I am enveloped in dark morals.
The stars of love are put out for me;
No more sweet light -- nothing but shadows and dread!
A large abyss wants me in its spirals.
Eternal night, devour me!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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:

Based on:

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This text was added to the website: 2007-08-17
Line count: 7
Word count: 52

Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail