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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Translation © by Salvador Pila

La chanson bien douce
 (Sung text for setting by E. Chausson)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG
Écoutez la chanson bien douce
Qui ne pleure que pour vous plaire,
Elle est discrète, elle est légère :
Un frisson d'eau sur de la mousse !

La voix vous fut connue (et chère ?)
Mais à présent elle est voilée
Comme une veuve désolée,
Pourtant comme elle encore fière,

Et dans les longs plis de son voile,
Qui palpite aux brises d'automne.
Cache et montre au cœur qui s'étonne
La vérité comme une étoile.

Elle dit, la voix reconnue,
Que la bonté c'est notre vie,
Que de la haine et de l'envie
Rien ne reste, la mort venue.

 ... 

Accueillez la voix qui persiste
Dans son naïf épithalame.
Allez, rien n'est meilleur à l'âme
Que de faire une âme moins triste !

Elle est en peine et de passage,
L'âme qui souffre sans colère,
Et comme sa morale est claire !...
Écoutez la chanson bien sage.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4,6-7 of the original text.

Composition:

    Set to music by Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "La chanson bien douce", op. 34 no. 1, published 1898, stanzas 1-4,6-7 [ voice and piano ], from Deux Poèmes de Verlaine, no. 1, Paris, Rouart Lerolle

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse I, no. 16, first published 1880

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "Posłuchajcie piosenki", Kraków, J. Mortkowicz, first published 1911


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 166

La cançó ben dolça
 (Sung text translation for setting by E. Chausson)
 See original
Language: Catalan (Català)  after the French (Français) 
Escolteu la cançó ben dolça
que només plora per complaure-us,
ella és discreta, ella és lleugera:
una frisança d’aigua damunt la molsa!

La veu us era coneguda (i estimada?)
però ara està velada
com una vídua desconsolada
i tanmateix altiva com ella,

i en els llargs plecs del seu vel,
que batega al ventijol de tardor,
amaga i mostra al cor que es sorprèn,
la veritat com una estrella.

Diu, la veu reconeguda,
que la bondat és la nostra vida,
que de l’odi i l’enveja,
res en queda un cop vinguda la mort.

 ... 

Acolliu la veu que persisteix
en el seu càndid epitalami.
Au, res és millor per a l’ànima
que fer menys trista una altra ànima!

Ella està en pena i està de pas,
l’ànima que pateix sense ràbia,
i com la seva moral és clara! ...
Escolteu la cançó ben sàvia.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4,6-7 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2016 by Salvador Pila, (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 Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse I, no. 16, first published 1880
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2016-06-30
Line count: 28
Word count: 166

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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