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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

Que diras‑tu ce soir, pauvre âme...
Language: French (Français) 
Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire,
Que diras-tu, mon cœur, cœur autrefois flétri,
A la très-belle, à la très-bonne, à la très-chère,
Dont le regard divin t'a soudain refleuri ?

— Nous mettrons notre orgueil à chanter ses louanges :
Rien ne vaut la douceur de son autorité ;
Sa chair spirituelle a le parfum des Anges,
Et son œil nous revêt d'un habit de clarté.

Que ce soit dans la nuit et dans la solitude,
Que ce soit dans la rue et dans la multitude,
Son fantôme dans l'air danse comme un flambeau.

Parfois il parle et dit : « Je suis belle, et j'ordonne
Que pour l'amour de moi vous n'aimiez que le Beau.
Je suis l'Ange gardien, la Muse et la Madone. »

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 87-88. Note: this was number 37 in the first edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 42 or 43 in subsequent editions.

First published in La Revue de Paris, January 15, 1855.


Text Authorship:

  • by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, written 1854, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 42, first published 1855 [author's text checked 2 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 Colin Matthews (b. 1946), "Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire", 1971-1978, published 1979, first performed 1978 [ baritone and piano ], from Un Colloque Sentimental, no. 3, London, Faber Music [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "Idéal" [ high voice and piano ], from Six poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Pierre Singer , "Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire ?", published 1914 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Maurice Sénart & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Stefan George (1868 - 1933) , no title, appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Trübsinn und Vergeisterung, Berlin, Bondi, first published 1901 ; composed by Gerhard Frommel.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , no title
  • ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Sonnet XLIII", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2017-05-04
Line count: 14
Word count: 123

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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