Oh ! quand la mort, que rien ne saurait...
Language: French (Français)
Oh ! quand la mort, que rien ne saurait apaiser,
Nous prendra tous les deux dans un dernier baiser
Et jettera sur nous le manteau de ses ailes,
Puissions-nous réposer sous deux pierres jumelles !
Puissent les fleurs de rose aux parfums embaumés
Sortir de nos deux corps qui se sont tant aimés,
Et nos âmes fleurir ensemble, et, sur nos tombes
Se becqueter longtemps d'amoureuses colombes !
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• C. Debussy About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotes
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Max Arham (flourished 1911-1917), "Dernier vœu", <<1911 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies, 2e série, no. 25, Paris, Maurice Senart, B. Roudanez & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by René-Emmanuel Baton (1879 - 1940), as Rhené-Baton, "Ultima verba", op. 15 (Trois mélodies) no. 3 (1901), published 1912 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Souhait", L. 18/(11) (1881) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Dernier vœu", 1891, published 1894 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 17, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Oh! quand la mort ", <<2011 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre Nau , "Dernier Vœu" [ medium voice and piano ] [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 text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 66
Oh, when death, which nothing can...
Language: English after the French (Français)
Oh, when death, which nothing can appease,
seizes us both in a final kiss
and throws over us the mantle of his wings,
may we then rest under two twin stones!
May roses with their fragrant perfumes
grow from our bodies which have loved each other so much,
may our souls blossom together, and on our tombs
may amorous doves eternally nibble at each other.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotes
Translated titles
"Dernier Vœu" = "Last Wish"
"Oh ! quand la mort" = "Oh ! when Death"
"Souhait" = "Wish"
"Ultima verba" ="Last Word"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2022-09-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 66