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by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857)
Translation © by Amy Pfrimmer
Ninon! Ninon! que fais‑tu de la vie?
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
(Elle s'assoupit. - On entend par la fenêtre le bruit d'une guitare et une voix.) Ninon! Ninon! que fais-tu de la vie? L'heure s'enfuit, le jour succède au jour; Rose ce soir, demain flétrie, Comment vis-tu, toi qui n'as pas d'amour? Ninon, s'éveillant: [ Est-ce un rêve? J'ai cru qu'on chantait dans la cour?]1 La Voix, au dehors: [ Regarde-toi, la jeune fille, Ton coeur bat et ton oeil pétille,]2 [Aujourd'hui le printemps, Ninon, demain l'hiver!]3 Quoi! tu n'as pas d'étoile et tu vas sur la mer, Au combat sans musique, en voyage sans livre; Quoi! tu n'as pas d'amour et tu parles de vivre! Moi, pour un peu d'amour je donnerais mes jours; Et je tes donnerais pour rien sans les amours. Ninon: [ Je ne me trompe pas; - singulière romance! Comment ce chanteur-là peut-il savoir mon nom? Peut-être sa beauté s'appelle aussi Ninon.]1 La Voix: Qu'importe que le jour finisse et recommence Quand d'une autre existence le coeur est animé, Ouvrez-vous, jeunes fleurs, si la mort vous enlève, La vie est un sommeil, l'amour en est le rêve, Et vous aurez vécu, si vous avez aimé.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 omitted by Franck and Tosti.
2 omitted by Tosti.
3 Tosti: "Ninon, demain l'hiver! Aujourd'hui le printemps,"
Authorship
- by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), no title, appears in A quoi rêvent les jeunes filles, Act 1, Scene 1 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)
- by Gaetano Braga (1829 - 1907), "Ninon", published [1862] [ high voice and piano ], from Six Mélodies de Gaetano Braga, no. 3, Éd. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léo Delibes (1836 - 1891), "Sérénade à Ninon" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gabriel Dupont (1878 - 1914), "Sérénade à Ninon", 1910/11, published 1911 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux poèmes de Alfred de Musset, no. 2, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by César Franck (1822 - 1890), "Ninon", FWV. 71, CFF. 148 (1851), published c1862 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Richault [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "Ninon", op. 11 no. 3 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Durand. Schoenewerck & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul-Jean-Jacques Lacôme d'Estalenx (1838 - 1920), "Sérénade à Ninon" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernest-Louis-Victor-Jules L'Épine (1826 - 1893), "Sérénade de Silvio", published [1868] [ high voice and piano ], from 22 Scènes et Chansons, no. 20, Éd. G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "Ninon", 1850 [ high voice and piano ], from Chants du soir, no. 1, Éditions Léon Grus [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ulysse Rebatet (d. 1943), "Sérénade à Ninon", published [1910] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. G. Siéver [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luis Sambucetti (1860 - 1926), "Ninon", subtitle: "Romance" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 - 1916), "Ninon" [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , copyright © 2019, (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: 27
Word count: 189
Ninon! Ninon! What do you do in life?
Language: English after the French (Français)
... Ninon! Ninon! What do you do in life? Time flies. Day follows day; A rose in bloom tonight, is withered tomorrow. How do you live, you who have no love? [ ... ] Look, young girl - your heart beats and your eyes sparkle. Today is spring. Tomorrow is winter. What! You have no star and you're going to the sea? You go into battle without music, on a voyage without a book! What! You know nothing of love, and you speak of living! For a little love I would give my life; and I would give nothing for a life without love. [ ... ] Of what importance is it that the day begins and finishes when another’s heart is quickened by love? Open, young flower; If death takes you away, sleep, love is a dream, And you will have lived, if you have loved.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of title(s):
"Sérénade à Ninon" = "Serenade to Ninon"
"Ninon" = "Ninon"
Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Amy Pfrimmer, (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:
- a text in French (Français) by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), no title, appears in A quoi rêvent les jeunes filles, Act 1, Scene 1
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-04
Line count: 23
Word count: 147