by
Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Language: French (Français)
Hier, la nuit d'été, qui nous prêtait ses voiles,
Etait digne de toi, tant elle avait d'étoiles !
Tant son calme était frais ! tant son souffle était doux !
Tant elle éteignait bien ses rumeurs apaisées !
Tant elle répandait d'amoureuses rosées
Sur les fleurs et sur nous !
Moi, j'étais devant toi, plein de joie et de flamme,
Car tu me regardais avec toute ton âme !
J'admirais la beauté dont ton front se revêt.
Et sans même qu'un mot révélât ta pensée,
La tendre rêverie en ton coeur commencée
Dans mon coeur s'achevait !
Et je bénissais Dieu, dont la grâce infinie
Sur la nuit et sur toi jeta tant d'harmonie,
Qui, pour me rendre calme et pour me rendre heureux,
Vous fit, la nuit et toi, si belles et si pures,
Si pleines de rayons, de parfums, de murmures,
Si douces toutes deux !
...
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-3 of the original text.
Composition:
Set to music by André Wormser (1851 - 1926), "Nuit d'Été", published [1879], stanzas 1-3 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Théodore Michaëlis
Text Authorship:
See other settings of this text.
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: 2014-09-19
Line count: 54
Word count: 430
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Yesterday the summer night, which lent us its sails,
was worthy of you - it had so many stars!
Its calmness was so fresh, its breath was so gentle!
It silenced so well all the quietened noises.
It spread so much amorous dew
on the flowers and on us!
I was facing you, full of joy and flame,
for you were looking at me with all your soul!
I admired the beauty of your forehead.
And without even a word revealing your thought,
the tender reverie in your heart, begun
in mine, was reaching a conclusion.
And I thanked God, whose infinite grace
gave so much harmony to the night and to us,
who, to give me calmness and happiness,
made both the night and you so beautiful and so pure,
so full of rays and perfumes and murmurs,
and both so gentle!
...
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Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-3 of the original text.
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.
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Based on:
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This text was added to the website: 2022-12-12
Line count: 54
Word count: 440