Marquise, vous souvenez-vous
Du menuet que nous dansâmes?
Il était discret, noble et doux
Comme l'accord de nos deux âmes.

Aux bocages le chalumeau
A ces notes pures et lentes ;
C'était un air du grand Rameau,
Un vieil air des Indes galantes.

[Triomphante]1, vous surpreniez
Tous les coeurs et tous les hommages,
Dans votre robe à grands paniers,
Dans votre robe à grands ramages.

Vous leviez, de vos doigts gantés
Et selon la cadence douce,
Votre jupe des deux côtés
Prise entre l'index et le pouce.

Plus d'une belle, à Trianon,
Enviait, parmi vos émules,
Le [manège]2 exquis et mignon
De vos deux petits pieds à mules.

[Et]3, distraite par le bonheur
De leur causer cette souffrance,
A la reprise en la mineur,
Vous manquâtes la révérence.

C. Saint-Saëns sets stanzas 1, 3-6 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
C. Saint-Saëns sets stanzas 1, 3-6 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Saint-Saëns: "Rayonnante"
² Saint-Saëns: "travail"
³ Saint-Saëns: "Mais"

Text Authorship:

• by François Coppée (1842 - 1908), "Menuet", written 1874, appears in Le cahier rouge, no. 8, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1874 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Antoine Banès (1856 - 1924), "Menuet", published [1881] [ voice and piano ], from 12 Mélodies, no. 10, Paris, Félix Mackar [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louis Diémer (1843 - 1919), "Menuet", published 1875 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt Mélodies, no. 6, Paris : Henri Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by (François-Clément) Théodore Dubois (1837 - 1924), "Menuet", published 1920 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq Mélodies, no. 2, from Trois mélodies (1920), no. 2, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gabriel-Laurent Frontin (1878 - 1946), "Marquise", published [1901] [ voice and piano ], Paris, Demets [sung text not yet checked]
• by Stanisław Niewiadomski (1857 - 1936), "Menuet", <<1895, published [1895] [ tenor and piano ], from Deux mélodies pour ténor, no. 1, Paris, Richault [sung text not yet checked]
• by Cornélie van Oosterzee (1863 - 1943), "Menuet", op. 25 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], from Vieux airs de la marquise, no. 1, Mayence B. Schott's Söhne [sung text not yet checked]
• by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Vous souvenez-vous, Marquise", <<1889 [ voice and piano ], Paris, L. Bathlot & Veuve Héraud [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Marquise, vous souvenez-vous?", 1869, published 1870, stanzas 1,3-6 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Menuet", published >>1870, stanzas 1,3-6 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by François Luc Joseph Thomé (1850 - 1909), as Francis Thomé, "Menuet", published 1910 [ reciter, violin, and piano ], Paris, Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 133