Meeting | I was so sad and wistful when you and I first met

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by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930)

Translation © by Michael P Rosewall

Rencontre

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG SPA

J'étais triste et pensif quand je t'ai rencontrée,
Je sens moins aujourd'hui mon obstiné tourment;
Ô dis-moi, serais-tu la femme inespérée,
Et le rêve idéal poursuivi vainement?
Ô, passante aux doux yeux, serais-tu donc l'amie
Qui rendrait le bonheur au poète isolé,
Et vas-tu rayonner sur mon âme affermie,
Comme le ciel natal sur un coeur d'exilé?

Ta tristesse sauvage, à la mienne pareille,
Aime à voir le soleil décliner sur la mer!
Devant l'immensité ton extase s'éveille,
Et le charme des soirs à ta belle âme est cher;
Une mystérieuse et douce sympathie
Déjà m'enchaîne à toi comme un vivant lien,
Et mon âme frémit, par l'amour envahie,
Et mon coeur te chérit sans te connaître bien!

Text Authorship:

by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930), written 1874 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Rencontre", op. 21 no. 1 (1878), published 1880, first performed 1881 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poëme d'un jour, no. 1, Éd. Durand & Fils [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Trobada", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Meeting", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Alberto Bonati) , "Encuentro", copyright © 2007, (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: 118

Meeting

Language: English after the French (Français)

I was so sad and wistful when you and I first met;
Today, I feel less of that unyielding torment.
O tell me, could you be that unexpected woman,
The lovely chimera that I have sought in vain?
O, wayfarer of such gentle eye, are you that friend
Who will return happiness to this lonely poet?
And will you shine on my reawakening soul
Like the skies of home upon an exile’s heart?

Your untamed sorrow, like my own,
Is fond of watching the sun set over the sea!
Its magnitude evokes rapture within you, And
the evening’s allure is dear to your beautiful soul;
A curious and sweet affinity
Already links me to you with a living connection.
My soul shudders, suffused with passion,
And my heart, not fully knowing you, yet cherishes you!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2018 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930), written 1874
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-04-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 135