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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

En sourdine
 (Sung text for setting by C. Debussy)
 Matches original text
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT CAT ENG ENG GER GER GRE SPA SPA
Calmes dans le demi-jour
Que les branches hautes font,
Pénétrons bien notre amour
De ce silence profond.

Fondons nos âmes, nos cœurs
Et nos sens extasiés,
Parmi les vagues langueurs
Des pins et des arbousiers.

Ferme tes yeux à demi,
Croise tes bras sur ton sein,
Et de ton cœur endormi
Chasse à jamais tout dessein.

Laissons-nous persuader
Au souffle berceur et doux,
Qui vient à tes pieds rider
Les ondes des gazons roux.

Et quand, solennel, le soir
Des chênes noirs tombera,
Voix de notre désespoir,
Le rossignol chantera.

Note: The ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".

Composition:

    Set to music by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "En sourdine", L. 86/(80) no. 1 (1891) [ voice and piano ], from Fêtes Galantes I, no. 1

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "En sourdine", written 1868, appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 21, first published 1868

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Anna Brull Piñol) , "Calms, dins el capvespre", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CAT Catalan (Català) [singable] (Núria Colomer) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Muted", copyright ©
  • ENG English (Laura Claycomb) (Peter Grunberg) , "Muted", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Elaine Marie Ortiz-Arandes) (Julie Nezami-Tavi) , copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Gedämpften Tons", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GRE Greek (Ελληνικά) [singable] (Christakis Poumbouris) , "Απαλή αγάπη", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "En voz baja", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Didier Pelat , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 90

Gentle Reminder

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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