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Ma vie a son secret, mon âme a son mystère: Un amour éternel en un moment conçu: Le mal est sans remède, aussi j'ai dû le taire, Et celle qui l'a fait n'en a jamais rien su. Ainsi j'aurai passé près d'elle inaperçu, Toujours à ses côtés et toujours solitaire, Et j'aurai jusqu'au bout, fait mon temps sur la terre, N'osant rien demander et n'ayant rien reçu. Pour elle, que le ciel a faite douce et tendre, Elle suit son chemin, distraite et sans entendre La murmure d'amour élevé sur ses pas. À l'austère devoir pieusement fidèle, Elle dira, lisant ces vers tout remplis d'elle; "Quelle est donc cette femme?" et ne comprendra pas.
The text shown is a variant of another text.
It is based on
- a text in French (Français) by Félix Arvers (1806 - 1850), "Sonnet imité de l'italien", written 1833, appears in Mes heures perdues, Poésies, Paris, Éd. Fournier jeune, first published 1833
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 Bizet (1838 - 1875), "Ma vie a son secret", op. 21 no. 8 (1868), published 1873 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 8, Paris, Éd. Choudens [sung text checked 1 time]
Set in a modified version by Martial Caillebotte, Luciano Gallet, Édouard Garnier, André Gédalge, Jean Eugène Gaston Lemaire, Madeleine Lemariey, Casimir Renard, Eric Tanguy, Léon Van Straten, Charles Marie Jean Albert Widor.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "My life has its secret", copyright © 2019
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-10-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 114
My life has its secret, my soul has its mystery: An eternal love conceived in one moment: The illness is without remedy, so I had to silence it, And she who caused it never knew anything about it. Thus I will have passed near her unperceived, Ever at her side -- and ever solitary; And up to the end of my time on the earth I will never have dared to ask anything -- and will have received nothing. As for her, whom Heaven has made sweet and tender, She follows her path, preoccupied and without hearing The murmur of love arising from her footsteps. To her austere duty piously faithful, She will say, reading these verses full of her: "Who is this woman then?" -- and will not understand.
Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
- a text in French (Français) by Not Applicable [an adaptation]
- a text in French (Français) by Félix Arvers (1806 - 1850), "Sonnet imité de l'italien", written 1833, appears in Mes heures perdues, Poésies, Paris, Éd. Fournier jeune, first published 1833
This text was added to the website: 2019-11-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 127