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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914)
Translation © by Shawn Thuris

La mer est infinie et mes rêves sont...
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG GER
La mer est infinie et mes rêves sont fous.
La mer chante au soleil en battant les falaises
Et mes rêves légers ne se sentent plus d'aise
De danser sur la mer comme des oiseaux soûls.

Le vaste mouvement des vagues les emporte,
La brise les agite et les roule en ses plis ;
Jouant dans le sillage, ils feront une escorte
Aux vaisseaux que mon cœur dans leur fuite a suivis.

Ivres d'air et de sel et brûlés par l'écume
De la mer qui console et qui lave des pleurs
Ils connaîtront le large et sa bonne amertume ;
Les goélands perdus les prendront pour des leurs.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, L’Horizon chimérique, Recueil posthume, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, 1920.


Text Authorship:

  • by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914), no title, written 1911-12, appears in L'horizon chimérique, no. 13, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, first published 1920 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "La mer est infinie", op. 118 no. 1 (1921), published 1922 [ baritone and piano ], from L'horizon chimérique, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El mar és infinit", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Shawn Thuris) , "The sea is endless", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Das Meer ist unendlich", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Didier Pelat

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 106

The sea is endless
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
The sea is endless and my dreams are mad.
The sea sings to the sun, lashing the cliffs,
And my flighty dreams taste only of the pleasure
Of dancing over the sea like drunken birds.

The vast motion of the waves carries them,
The breeze shakes and tumbles them in the folds;
Playing in the wake, they form an escort
To the ships my heart has followed in their flight.

Wild with air and salt and scalded by the foam
Of a sea that consoles and washes tears away,
They will know the ocean and its good bitterness;
Stray gulls will take them for their own.

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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914), no title, written 1911-12, appears in L'horizon chimérique, no. 13, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, first published 1920
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 106

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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