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by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translation © by Peter Low
Oh! quand je dors, viens auprès de ma...
Language: French (Français)
Oh! quand je dors, viens auprès de ma couche,
comme à Pétrarque apparaissait Laura,
Et qu'en passant ton haleine me touche...
Soudain ma bouche
S'entrouvrira!
Sur mon front morne où peut-être s'achève
Un songe noir qui trop longtemps dura,
Que ton regard comme un astre se lève...
Soudain mon rêve
Rayonnera!
Puis sur ma lèvre où voltige une flamme,
Éclair d'amour que Dieu même épura,
Pose un baiser, et d'ange deviens femme...
Soudain mon âme
S'éveillera!
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesText Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, appears in Les Rayons et les Ombres, no. 27, first published 1840 [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 Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Oh ! quand je dors", published 2009 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 5, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875), "Oh! Quand je dors", 1868-1873 [ tenor and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joseph Casorati , "Oh quand je dors" [ high voice and piano ], Milano, Frat. Buffa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vladimir Castrioto-Scanderberg (1820 - 1879), "Oh! quand je dors" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carl Chesneau (1836 - 1884), "Quand je dors", <<1874 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Enoch Père & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Amédée Dethou (1811 - 1877), "Oh ! Quand je dors", published [1859] [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies sur des poësies de Victor Hugo et de Ronsard, Bertaut, Desportes et Passerat, Poëtes du XVIè siècle, no. 2, Paris, Imprimerie Bouchard [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard van Dieren (1887 - 1936), "Les rayons et les ombres XXVII", alternate title: "Oh ! quand je dors", published 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Gédalge (1856 - 1926), "Quand je dors", unpublished [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jenő Hubay (1858 - 1937), "Oh! Quand je dors", op. 12 (Trois Mélodies) no. 3, published 1882 [ voice and piano ], Cranz [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edouard Lalo (1823 - 1892), "Oh! Quand je dors", op. 17 (6 Mélodies) no. 5 (1856) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "Oh! Quand je dors", S. 282 (1842-1849), published 1844-1859 [ voice and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "À une femme", published [1869] [ voice and piano ], Éd. Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luigi Pantaleoni (d. 1872), "Oh ! quand je dors" [ high voice and piano ], from Album dédié à S.A. Reale Penelope Carolina di Borbone, Principessa di Capua, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Oh! Quand je dors", published 1873 [ medium voice and piano ], from Joyeusetés de bonne compagnie, recueillies et mises en musique, no. 11, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel Rodriguez (1829 - 1901), "Serenata", 1851 [ medium voice and piano ], from Coleccion de Melodias, no. 7, Barcelona, Édition Juan Batista Pujol [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) ; composed by Franz Liszt.
- Also set in Spanish (Español), a translation by José Rafael de Pombo y Rebolledo (1833 - 1912) , "Cuando yo duerma", written 1856 ; composed by Guillermo Uribe Holguín.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Yen-Chiang Che) , "喔！當我沈睡", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Mei Foong Ang) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Oh! when I sleep", copyright ©
- ENG English [singable] (Peter Low) , "Oh while I sleep", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "O in my dreams"
- POR Portuguese (Português) (Margarida Moreno) , "Oh! Quando durmo", copyright © 2011, (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: 15
Word count: 76
Oh while I sleep
Language: English after the French (Français)
Oh while I sleep, come and stand by my bed
as Laura came to Petrarch where he lay.
And let your breath hover over my head -
My pain will settle
and drain away!
And on my brow in the menacing darkness
where nightmares come and all too often stay
pour down your gaze like a shower of starlight -
My heart will waken.
My dream will waken.
Then place a kiss both angelic and human
on my two lips where love again may stir to flame.
Yes, kiss me and turn from angel into woman -
My soul will leap through
from night into day!
View text with all available footnotes
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2008 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 Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, appears in Les Rayons et les Ombres, no. 27, first published 1840
This text was added to the website: 2008-12-03
Line count: 15
Word count: 103