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Si vous croyez que je vais dire Qui j'ose aimer, Je ne saurais, pour un empire, Vous la nommer. Nous allons chanter à la ronde, Si vous voulez, Que je l'adore et qu'elle est blonde Comme les blés. Je fais ce que sa fantaisie Veut m'ordonner, Et je puis, s'il lui faut ma vie, La lui donner. Du mal qu'une amour ignorée [Nous]1 fait souffrir, J'en porte l'âme déchirée Jusqu'à mourir. Mais j'aime trop pour que je die Qui j'ose aimer, Et je veux mourir pour ma mie Sans la nommer.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Alfred de Musset, Poésies nouvelles (1836-1852), Paris, Charpentier, 1857, page 142.
First published in La revue des deux mondes, November 1, 1835, in Comédies et Proverbes, "Le Chandelier", Act II, Scene 3.
Note (provided by Garrett Medlock) for stanza 5, line 1 - "die" [sic] means "dis" here.
1 Koster: "Vous"Text Authorship:
- by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), "Chanson de Fortunio", written 1836, appears in Poésies nouvelles [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 Giulio Alary (1814 - 1891), "Un secret" [ medium voice and piano ], from 20 Mélodies, Vol. I, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerk [sung text not yet checked]
- by Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909), "Chanson de Fortunio" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vincent Antony , "Chanson de Fortunio", <<1877 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Chanson de Fortunio", subtitle: "Sur le thème de la 'Partita en Si b' de J.S. Bach", 1925, published 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], from 1830, trois chansons par Alfred de Musset mises en musique sur des fragments de Bach, no. 2, Éd. G. Ricordi & C. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gaston Choisnel (1857 - 1921), "Si vous croyez" [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. A. Durand & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Delius (1862 - 1934), "Chanson de Fortunio", 1889 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred Dufresne (1822 - 1863), "La chanson de Fortunio" [ high voice and piano ], from Les soirées d'automne, douze mélodies, no. 7, Paris, Éditions E. Heu [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul d'Estribaud (1828 - 1911), "Chanson de Fortunio", <<1853 [ tenor and piano ], Éd. Meissonnier fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul Fournier (1853 - 1935), "Chanson de Fortunio" [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. A. Durand & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Aynsley) Eugene Goossens, Sir (1893 - 1962), "Chanson de Fortunio", op. 9 (Deux Mélodies) no. 1 (1914), published 1917 [ voice and piano ], London, J. & W. Chester [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edmond Hippeau (1849 - 1921), "Chanson de Fortunio", op. 46, published [1908] [ tenor and piano ], Paris, Éd. E. Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques François Antoine Ibert (1890 - 1962), "Chanson de Fortunio", 1925, published 1965, first performed 1936 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], Ed. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roger-Élie Jalowicz (1895 - 1989), "Chanson de Fortunio", op. 3, published 1920 [ tenor and piano ], London, Boosey & Co Ltd [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lou Koster (1889 - 1973), "Chanson de Fortunio" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Fortunio" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880), "Chanson de Fortunio", 1852, from Les voix mystérieuses, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Morfydd Llwyn Owen (1891 - 1918), "Chanson de Fortunio", 1913 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Napoléon-Henri Reber (1807 - 1880), "Chanson de Fortunio", published 1861 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Chanson de Fortunio" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 - 1916), "Chanson de Fortunio", 1881 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ennemond Trillat (1890 - 1980), "La Chanson de Fortunio" [ medium voice and piano ], Éditions 'Le Luth', chez Béal [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Nikolai Porfiryevich Grekov (1810 - 1866) ; composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Johan Harald Molander (1858 - 1900) ; composed by Emil Sjögren.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 92
If you believe I'll tell With whom I'm in love, I couldn't, for a whole empire, Tell you the name. We’ll sing, while dancing in a circle, If you want, That I love her, and I love that she is fair-haired As wheat. I do what her fancy commands me to do, And I could, if she wanted my life, Give it to her. An unconfessed love causes pain which Makes us suffer, so I'll carry a torn apart soul until my death! But I’m too in love to reveal Whom I may love, And I want to die for her love Without naming her.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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 Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), "Chanson de Fortunio", written 1836, appears in Poésies nouvelles
This text was added to the website: 2016-10-23
Line count: 20
Word count: 105