by
Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929)
La nuit était tranquille et ténébreuse;...
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): CAT ENG
La nuit était [tranquille] et ténébreuse; à peine,
Quelques [étoiles d'or illuminaient]2 l'ébène
De ses grands cheveux déroulés,
[Qui sur mon cher amour, douce face éblouie,
Et tout comme une fleur du soir épanouie]3,
Secouaient des parfums ailés.
Nous marchions tous les deux dans une extase telle
Que les anges trônant dans leur gloire immortelle
N'en savant pas la volupté,
Et que le bruit divin de leurs luths est, je pense,
Moins doux qu'un amoureux et qu'un profond silence
Par une sombre nuit d'été.
Et notre jeune amour, naissant de nos pensées,
S'éveillait sur le lit de cent roses glacées
Qui n'avaient respiré qu'un jour ;
Et moi, je lui disais, pâle et tremblant de fièvre,
[Qu'on nous verrait mourir]4 le sourire à la lèvre,
En même temps que notre amour.
E. Chausson sets stanzas 1, 3
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Chausson: "pensive"
2 Chausson: "épingles d'or scintillaient dans"
3 Chausson: "Qui, sur nous, sur la mer lointaine et sur la terre/
Ensevelie en un sommeil plein de mystère"
4 Chausson: "Que nous mourrions tous deux,"
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
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 (Faith J. Cormier) , copyright © 2014, (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: 18
Word count: 131
The night was calm and full of shadows....
Language: English  after the French (Français)
The night was calm and full of shadows. A scant
few golden stars lit up the ebony sky.
Perfumed wings of masses of unbound hair
rolled over my dear love, sweet bedazzled face,
like an evening flower in full bloom.
We both walked in an ecstasy
like that of angels enthroned in immortal glory
and unaware of the depth of their bliss
and of how the divine sound of their lutes is, I think,
less sweet than a lover and a deep silence
in a dark summer night.
And our young love, born of our thoughts,
awakened on the bed of a hundred frozen roses
that had only breathed for one day.
And I told her, pale and shaking with fever,
that they would see us die smiling
at the same time as our love.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translation of title "Nocturne" = "Nocturne"
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 by Faith J. Cormier, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2014-11-07
Line count: 17
Word count: 135