Often an air of truth

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by François Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), as Voltaire

Translation © by Peter Low

Souvent un air de vérité

(Sung text for setting by G. Tailleferre)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Souvent un air de vérité
Se mêle au plus grossier mensonge.
Une nuit dans l'erreur d'un songe,
Au rang des rois j'étais monté.
Je vous aimais alors et j'osais vous le dire.
Les dieux à mon réveil ne m'ont pas tout ôté :
Je n'ai perdu que mon empire.

Composition:

Germaine Tailleferre

Six chansons françaises

Text Authorship:

by François Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), as Voltaire, "Songe de M. de Voltaire à la princesse royale de Prusse au mois de septembre 1743 lorsqu'il était à Berlin"

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2017, (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: 7
Word count: 49

Often an air of truth

(Sung text translation for setting by G. Tailleferre)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

Often an air of truth
can be found in the crudest lie.
Last night in a deluded dream
I had risen to the rank of kings.
At that time I loved you and dared to tell you so.
When I woke, the gods didn't take it all away:
I lost only my kingdom.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2017 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 François Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), as Voltaire, "Songe de M. de Voltaire à la princesse royale de Prusse au mois de septembre 1743 lorsqu'il était à Berlin"
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2017-08-11
Line count: 7
Word count: 53