Hymn | To the very dear one, the very lovely one

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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

Translation © by Shawn Thuris

Hymne

(Sung text for setting by G. Fauré)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG

À la très-chère, à la très-belle
Qui remplit mon cœur de clarté,
À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle,
Salut en immortalité !

Elle se répand dans ma vie
Comme un air imprégné de sel,
Et dans mon âme inassouvie
Verse le goût de l'éternel.

 ... 

Comment, amour incorruptible,
T'exprimer avec vérité ?
Grain de musc qui gis, invisible,
Au fond de mon éternité !

À la très chère, à la très-belle,
Qui remplit mon cœur de clarté,
À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle,
Salut en immortalité !

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1,2,4,5 of the original text.

First published by À l'enseigne du Coq in Les Épaves, 1866; also appears under Spleen et Idéal as number 94 in the 1868 edition of Les Fleurs du mal.

Composition:

Gabriel Fauré

Text Authorship:

by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Hymne", appears in Les Épaves, in 2. Galanteries, no. 10, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 94, Amsterdam, À l'enseigne du Coq, first published 1866

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Shawn Thuris) , "Hymn", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 103

Hymn

(Sung text translation for setting by G. Fauré)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

To the very dear one, the very lovely one,
Who fills my heart with brightness,
To the angel, the deathless idol,
Forever hail!

She pervades my life
Like a salt-filled breeze,
And into my unsatisfied soul
Pours the taste of the eternal.

 ... 

Incorruptible love,
How to express the truth of you?
Grain of musk, that lies unseen
At the bottom of my eternity?

To the very dear one, the very lovely one,
Who fills my heart with brightness,
To the angel, the deathless idol,
Forever hail!

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1,2,4,5 of the original text.

Translations of titles
"Hymne d'amour" = "Hymn of love"
"Hymne" = "Hymn"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Shawn Thuris, (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:

a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Hymne", appears in Les Épaves, in 2. Galanteries, no. 10, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 94, Amsterdam, À l'enseigne du Coq, first published 1866
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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 108