La rue assourdissante autour de moi hurlait. Longue, mince, en grand deuil, douleur majestueuse, Une femme passa, d'une main fastueuse Soulevant, balançant le feston et l'ourlet ; Agile et noble, avec sa jambe de statue. Moi, je buvais, crispé comme un extravagant, Dans son œil, ciel livide où germe l'ouragan, La douceur qui fascine et le plaisir qui tue. [Un éclair... puis la nuit !]1 -- Fugitive beauté Dont le regard m'a fait [soudainement]1 renaître, Ne te verrai-je plus que dans l'éternité ? [Ailleurs,]1 bien loin d'ici ! trop tard ! jamais peut-être ! [Car]1 j'ignore où tu fuis, tu ne sais où je vais, Ô toi que j'eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais !
R. Piacentini sets stanzas 3-4
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Tableaux parisiens, pages 216-217. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Tableaux parisiens, page 270. Note: this was number 93 in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 117 in subsequent editions.
First published October 15, 1860 in L'Artiste.
1 omitted by PiacentiniText Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "À une passante", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 2. Tableaux parisiens, no. 93, Paris, L'Artiste, first published 1860 [author's text checked 3 times 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 Danielle Baas (b. 1958), "A une passante", op. 71 (2000) [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Riccardo Piacentini (b. 1958), "À une passante", 1996, stanzas 3-4, from Fugitives. Tre frammenti da Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Rudi Spring (b. 1962), "À une passante", op. 96 no. 24 (2018) [ baritone and piano ], from Livre de Mélodies Françaises, no. 24 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Ženě, která šla mimo", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1919
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "To a Passer-by", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , "Einer Vorübergehenden", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, Berlin, Bondi, first published 1901
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-11-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 113
Around me thundered the deafening noise of the street, In mourning apparel, portraying majestic distress, With queenly ringers, just lifting the hem of her dress, A stately woman passed by with hurrying feet. Agile and noble, with limbs of perfect poise. Ah, how I drank, thrilled through like a Being insane, In her look, a dark sky, from whence springs forth the hurricane, There lay but the sweetness that charms, and the joy that destroys. A flash — then the night. . . . O loveliness fugitive! Whose glance has so suddenly caused me again to live, Shall I not see you again till this life is o'er! Elsewhere, far away . . . too late, perhaps never more, For I know not whither you fly, nor you, where I go, O soul that I would have loved, and that you know!
Confirmed with Cyril Scott, The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909, page 58.
Text Authorship:
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "To a Passer-by", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "À une passante", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 2. Tableaux parisiens, no. 93, Paris, L'Artiste, first published 1860
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-08-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 142