Invitation to the voyage | My child, my sister

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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

Translation © by Peter Low

L'invitation au Voyage

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: DUT ENG GER ITA SPA

	Mon enfant, ma sœur,
	Songe à la douceur
D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble ;
	-- Aimer à loisir,
	Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble !
	Les soleils mouillés
	De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
	Si mystérieux
	De tes traîtres yeux
Brillant à travers leurs larmes. 

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

	Des meubles luisants,
	Polis par les ans
Décoreraient notre chambre ;
	Les plus rares fleurs
	Mêlant leurs odeurs
Aux vagues senteurs de l'ambre,
	Les riches plafonds,
	Les miroirs profonds,
La splendeur orientale,
	Tout y parlerait
	À l'âme en secret
Sa douce langue natale.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

	Vois sur ces canaux 
	Dormir ces vaisseaux
Dont l'humeur est vagabonde ;
	C'est pour assouvir
	Ton moindre désir
Qu'ils viennent du bout du monde.
	-- Les soleils couchants
	Revêtent les champs,
Les canaux, la ville entière,
	D'hyacinthe et d'or ;
	-- Le monde s'endort
Dans une chaude lumière.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• H. Duparc

H. Duparc sets stanzas 1-2, 5-6
B. Godard sets stanzas 1-2, 5-6

Confirmed with Revue des Deux Mondes, seconde série de la nouvelle période, tome dixième, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Bureau de la Revue des Deux Mondes, 1855, pages 1087-1088. Also confirmed with Les Fleurs du mal, Spleen et Idéal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, pages 115-117. Punctuation and formatting follows 1855 edition.

First published in Revue des Deux Mondes, seconde série de la nouvelle période, tome dixième, 1855. Also appears in Les Fleurs du mal as number 49 in the 1857 edition and 53 or 54 in subsequent editions.

Note: The spelling "luisans" in the 1855 edition is changed to "luisants" in line 17.

Text Authorship:

by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "L'Invitation au Voyage", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 53, Paris, Bureau de la Revue des Deux Mondes, first published 1855 [author's text checked 3 times 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 Pascal d'Aix , "L'invitation au voyage" [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Maurice Senart (E.M.S. 8502) [sung text not yet checked]
by Hendrik Andriessen (1892 - 1981), "L'invitation au Voyage", 1918 [sung text not yet checked]
by Emmanuel Chabrier (1841 - 1894), "L'invitation au Voyage", 1870 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Gustave Charpentier (1860 - 1956), "L'invitation au Voyage", 1895, published 1895 [ voice and piano ], from Les Fleurs du Mal, no. 4, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel', Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
by Jules-Alfred Cressonnois (1823 - 1883), "L'invitation au voyage", 1863, published 1880 [ voice and piano ], from Harmonies : 24 Mélodies, Chant & Piano, no. 22, Paris, Éd. F. Schoen; confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
by Colette Delatour (b. 1936) and by Ruth Matarasso , "L'invitation au voyage", 1953 [ high voice and piano ], from Les miroirs profonds, no. 1, revised 1995 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alphons Diepenbrock (1862 - 1921), "L'invitation au Voyage", 1913, published 1920 [ medium voice and piano ], Amsterdam, Éd. Alsbach & Co [sung text checked 1 time]
by Henri Duparc (1848 - 1933), "L'invitation au Voyage", 1870, published 1894, orchestrated 1892, stanzas 1-2,5-6 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], Éd. Rouart, Lerolle & Cie [sung text checked 1 time]
by Léo Ferré (1916 - 1993), "L'invitation au voyage", published 1959 [ medium voice and piano ], Nouvelles Éd. S.E.M.I. Méridian [sung text not yet checked]
by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "L'invitation au Voyage", op. 114, published c1889, stanzas 1-2,5-6 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Durand & Schoenewerck [sung text not yet checked]
by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "L'invitation au Voyage", op. 48 no. 2, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal, no. 2, Moscow: Gutheil, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
by Lucien Hillemacher (1860 - 1909) and by Paul Hillemacher (1852 - 1933), "L'invitation au Voyage" [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, 1er volume, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
by Georges Adolphe Hüe (1858 - 1948), "L'invitation au Voyage", published [1889] [ voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
by (Alexandre) Charles Lecocq (1832 - 1918), "L'Invitation au voyage" [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Morceaux caractéristiques, no. 4, Paris, Édition Choudens Père et Fils [sung text not yet checked]
by Jean-Grégoire Pénavaire (1838 - 1906), "L'invitation au voyage" [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 16, Paris, Éd. Choudens [sung text checked 1 time]
by Yvan Renno , "L'Invitation au voyage", published [1914] [ high voice and piano ], Éd. F. Durdilly, Ch. Hayet, successeur [sung text not yet checked]
by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "L’invitation au voyage" [ voice and piano ], from Six nouvelles poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 6, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
by Leif Thybo (1922 - 2001), "L'Invitation au voyage", published 1987 [ bass and piano ], from Deux Chansons de Baudelaire pour baryton et piano, no. 1, Denmark, Egtved [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
- Go to the text.

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

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Vyzvání na cestu"
ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Invitation to a Journey", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Einladung zur Reise", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Nicolas Gounin [Guest Editor] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 163

Invitation to the voyage

Language: English after the French (Français)

My child, my sister,
think of the sweetness
of going there to live together!
To love at leisure,
to love and to die
in a country that is the image of you!
The misty suns
of those changeable skies
have for me the same
mysterious charm
as your fickle eyes
shining through their tears.

  There, all is harmony and beauty,
  luxury, calm and delight.

Gleaming furniture
polished by age
would decorate our bedroom;
the rarest of flowers
would mingle their fragrance
with the vague scent of amber;
the rich ceilings,
the deep mirrors,
the splendor of the Orient -
everything there
would speak in secret
the soul's soft native tongue.

  There, all is harmony and beauty,
  luxury, calm and delight.

See how those ships,
nomads by nature,
are slumbering in the canals.
To gratify
your every desire
they have come from the ends of the earth.
The westering suns
clothe the fields,
the canals, and the town
with reddish-orange and gold.
The world falls asleep
bathed in warmth and light.

  There, all is harmony and beauty,
  luxury, calm and delight.

Translator's note: Despite the opening line, this poem is an amorous invitation addressed to a mistress (not literally a child or sister)

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 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:

a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "L'Invitation au Voyage", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 53, Paris, Bureau de la Revue des Deux Mondes, first published 1855
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 179