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Il est un air pour qui je donnerais Tout Rossini, tout Mozart, tout Wèbre, Un air très vieux, languissant et funèbre, Qui pour moi seul a des charmes secrets! Et, chaque fois que je viens à l'entendre, De deux cents ans mon âme rajeunit... C'est sous Louis treize; et je crois voir s'étendre Un coteau vert, que le couchant jaunit, Puis un château de brique à coins de pierre, Aux vitraux teints de rougeâtres couleurs, Ceint de grands parcs, avec une rivière Baignant ses pieds, qui coule entre des fleurs; Puis une dame, à sa haute fenêtre, Blonde aux yeux noirs, en ses habits anciens, Que, dans une autre existence peut-être, J'ai déjà vue... et dont je me souviens!
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship
- by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval, "Fantaisie", appears in Odelettes rythmiques et lyriques [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 Georges Auric (1899 - 1983), "Fantaisie", 1925, published 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Gérard de Nerval, no. 1, Paris, Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Colas , "Le vieil air", published 1926 [ tenor and piano ], from Mélodies pour ténor, no. 1, Paris, Édition B. Roudanez [sung text not yet checked]
- by Colette Delatour (b. 1936) and by Ruth Matarasso , "Fantaisie", 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from Les miroirs profonds, no. 11, revised 1998 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Pillois (1877 - 1935), as Jacques Desky, "Il est un air", published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Feuillets de guerre chantés (1914-1918), Receuil no. 1, no. 1, Éd. Albert Zunz Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , no title, copyright ©, (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: 16
Word count: 119
There is an air for which I would give All Rossini, all Mozart, all Weber, A very old, languid, funereal air, Which has secret charms for me alone. And every time I come to hear it, My heart becomes two hundred years younger... It's under Louis XIII, and I seem to see a green hill extending, yellowed by the setting sun. Then a brick chateau with corners of stone, With windows tinted in reddish colors, Surrounded by great parks, with a river Bathing its feet, flowing among the flowers; Then a lady at her high window, Blonde with black eyes, in her ancient clothes, Whom I had already seen, perhaps in another existence... And whom I remember!
About the headline (FAQ)
Translation of title "Fantaisie" = "Fantasy"Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by David Jonathan Justman, (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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- a text in French (Français) by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval, "Fantaisie", appears in Odelettes rythmiques et lyriques
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 118