by
Jean Reboul (1796 - 1864)
Tout n'est qu'images fugitives
Language: French (Français)
Tout n'est qu'images fugitives ;
Coupe d'amertume ou de miel,
Chansons joyeuses ou plaintives,
Abusent des lèvres fictives :
Il n'est rien de vrai que le ciel.
Tout soleil naît, s'élève et tombe :
Tout trône est artificiel ;
La plus haute gloire succombe ;
Tout s'épanouit pour la tombe,
Et rien n'est brillant que le ciel.
Navigateur d'un jour d'orage,
Jouet des vagues, le mortel,
Repoussé de chaque rivage,
Ne voit qu'écueil sur son passage,
Et rien n'est calme que le ciel.
E. Tinel sets stanzas 1-2
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotes
Confirmed with Mme. Pauline Fouré-Lœffler, ed., La France Lyrique: album des meilleurs poésies lyriques des auteurs français, Brunswic: Edouard Leibrock, 1853, Pages 356-357.
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 René de Boisdeffre (1838 - 1906), "Soupir", op. 3 no. 3 (<<1867) [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, recueil 1, no. 3, Éd. G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edgar Pierre Joseph Tinel (1854 - 1912), "Tout n'est qu'images fugitives", op. 40 (Six Mélodies pour chant et piano = Zes Melodiën voor Zang & Piano) no. 4, published 1892, stanzas 1-2 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), "Tout n'est qu'images fugitives", WWV 58 (1839) [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 79
All is but fleeting images
Language: English after the French (Français)
All is but fleeting images;
Goblet of bitterness or of honey,
Songs joyous or mournful,
Deceive imagined lips:
There is nothing true but heaven.
Each sun is born, rises and sets:
Each throne is man-made;
The highest glory gives way;
Everything blossoms for the grave,
And nothing shines but heaven.
Seafarer of a stormy day,
Plaything of the waves, the mortal,
Driven away from every shore,
Sees only the reef along his way,
And nothing is peaceful but heaven.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotes
Translations of titles:
"Soupir" = "Sigh"
"Tout n'est qu'images fugitives" = "All is but fleeting images"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (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 Jean Reboul (1796 - 1864), "Soupir"
This text was added to the website: 2025-09-22
Line count: 15
Word count: 80
