Portrait (A sung waltz) | Her name is as sweet as honey to me

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by Louise Perny (d. 1918), as Pierre Reyniel

Translation © by Geneviève Usher

Portrait

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Son nom m'est doux comme le miel,
Elle est blonde comme une fée,
Ses yeux sont faits d'un coin de ciel;
L'ai-je vue ou l'ai-je rêvée?

Elle semble un lys frêle et doux,
Elle en a la mélancolie
Et la grace; connaissez-vous
Celle-là qui fait ma folie?

Sa voix contient le miel des fleurs,
Elle est irréelle et profonde,
Et je bois toutes les douleurs,
Dans sa voix de sirène blonde.
 
Son regard me frôle souvent,
Mais cependant elle m'ignore,
Elle passe et mon cœur fervent
Vole sur sa trace et l’adore.

Text Authorship:

by Louise Perny (d. 1918), as Pierre Reyniel [author's text not yet checked 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 Cécile Chaminade (1857 - 1944), "Portrait", subtitle: "Valse chantée", published 1904 [ voice, flute, and piano ], Éd. Enoch [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Geneviève Usher) , "Portrait (A sung waltz)", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-06
Line count: 16
Word count: 92

Portrait (A sung waltz)

Language: English after the French (Français)

Her name is as sweet as honey to me,
She is as fair-haired as a fairy,
Her eyes are made from a corner of sky;
Have I seen her or I am dreaming?

She is like a fragile, sweet lily,
She is melancholic 
and graceful; do you know 
the one who I am mad about?

Her voice is nectar, 
unreal and deep,
And I drink all the suffering 
in this fair-haired, mermaid’s voice.

Her gaze often brushes lightly over me,
Nevertheless she is unaware of me,
She goes past and my ardent heart 
flies after her and I adore her.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Geneviève Usher, (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 Louise Perny (d. 1918), as Pierre Reyniel
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-07-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 100