April | Already, pleasant days - the dust

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by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval

Translation © by David Jonathan Justman

Avril

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CHI ENG

Déjà les beaux jours, - la poussière,
Un ciel d'azur et de lumière,
Les murs enflammés, les longs soirs; -
Et rien de vert: - à peine encore
Un reflet rougeâtre décore
Les grands arbres aux rameaux noirs!

Ce beau temps me pèse et m'ennuie.
- Ce n'est qu'après des jours de pluie
Que doit surgir, en un tableau,
Le printemps verdissant et rose,
Comme une nymphe fraîche éclose,
Qui, souriante, sort de l'eau.

Text Authorship:

by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval [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), "Avril", 1925, published 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Gérard de Nerval, no. 4, Paris, Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , "四月", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , "April", 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: 12
Word count: 70

April

Language: English after the French (Français)

 Already, pleasant days - the dust,
 A sky of azure and light,
 Flaming walls, long evenings; -
 And nothing green: - Barely
 a reddish reflection still decorates
 The big trees with the black branches!
 
 This beautiful weather oppresses and annoys me.
 It's only after days of rain
 That the greening and pink Spring can emerge, in a picture,
 
 Like a newly born nymph,
 Who comes out of the water smiling.

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

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 11
Word count: 68