Since here on earth each soul

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by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)

Translation © by Peter Low

Puisqu'ici‑bas toute âme

Language: French (Français)

Available translation(s): CAT ENG ENG SPA

Puisqu'ici-bas toute âme
Donne à quelqu'un
Sa musique, sa flamme,
Ou son parfum ;

Puisqu'ici[-bas]¹ [chaque]² chose
Donne toujours
Son épine ou sa rose
A ses amours ;

[Puisqu'avril]³ donne aux chênes
Un bruit charmant ;
Que la nuit donne aux peines
L'oubli dormant.

Puisque l'air à la branche
Donne l'oiseau ;
Que l'aube à la pervenche
Donne un peu d'eau ;

Puisque, lorsqu'elle arrive
S'y reposer,
L'onde amère à la rive
Donne un baiser ;

Je te donne, à cette heure,
Penché sur toi,
La chose la meilleure
Que j'ai en moi !

Reçois donc ma pensée,
Triste d'ailleurs,
Qui, comme une rosée,
T'arrive en pleurs !

Reçois mes voeux sans nombre,
O mes amours !
Reçois la flamme ou l'ombre
De tous mes jours !

Mes transports pleins d'ivresses,
Pur de soupçons,
Et toutes les caresses
De mes chansons !

Mon esprit qui sans voile
Vogue au hazard,
Et qui n'a pour étoile
Que ton regard !

Ma muse, que les heures
Bercent rêvant
Qui, pleurant quand tu pleures,
Pleure souvent !

Reçois, mon bien céleste,
O ma beauté,
Mon cœur, dont rien ne reste,
L'amour ôté !

G. Fauré sets stanzas 1-3, 5-9, 11, 12
R. Hahn sets stanzas 1, 2, 4-9
E. Lalo sets stanzas 1, 8, 6, 10, 7, 9
H. Monpou sets stanzas 1, 2, 4-10, 12
L. Niedermeyer sets stanzas 1-3, 5-8, 10-12
C. Saint-Saëns sets stanzas 1, 2, 4-10, 12

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Hahn.
² Hugo: "toute"
³ Fauré: "Puis qu'Avril"

Authorship:

by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, written 1836, appears in Les voix intérieures, no. 11, first published 1837 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Puisqu'ici bas toute âme", published 2009 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 12a, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
by Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Puisqu'ici bas toute âme", published 2009 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 12b, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles-Samuel Bovy-Lysberg (1821 - 1873), "Puisqu'ici bas !", published [1891] [ low voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies posthumes, no. 2, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Louis-Toussaint Cellot (1827 - 1879), as Henri Cellot, "Puisqu'ici bas", published [1877] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel', Heugel et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
by Caroline Creyke, née Bennet Lawes (1844 - 1946), as Mrs Walter Creyke, "Rêverie", published [1894] [ voice and piano ], from Six Songs, no. 3, London, Weekes [sung text not yet checked]
by Antoine De Val , "Puisqu'ici‑bas toute âme", published 1874 [ voice and piano ], Wien, Schreiber [sung text not yet checked]
by Amédée Dethou (1811 - 1877), "Puisqu'ici bas", published [1859] [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies sur des poësies de Victor Hugo et de Ronsard, Bertaut, Desportes et Passerat, Poëtes du XVIè siècle, no. 12, Paris, Imprimerie Bouchard [sung text not yet checked]
by Ernest Doré (1830 - 1884), "Amour", subtitle: "Romance", op. 5, published [1854] [ voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Puisqu'ici-bas toute âme", op. 10 no. 1 (1862), first performed 1875, stanzas 1-3,5-9,11,12 [ vocal trio or vocal duet with piano ], Édition Heugel 'Au Ménestrel', revised 1874 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830 - 1914), "Puisqu'ici-bas", from Deuxième recueil de vingt mélodies, chant et piano, par J. Faure, no. 12 [sung text not yet checked]
by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Rêverie", 1888, published [1894], stanzas 1,2,4-9 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
by Paul-Jean-Jacques Lacôme d'Estalenx (1838 - 1920), "Puisqu'ici bas toute âme" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Edouard Lalo (1823 - 1892), "Puisqu'ici-bas toute âme", op. 17 (6 Mélodies) no. 2, stanzas 1,8,6,10,7,9 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Hippolyte Monpou (1804 - 1841), "À genoux", published 1838, stanzas 1,2,4-10,12 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Meissonnier [sung text checked 1 time]
by Louis Niedermeyer (1802 - 1861), "Puisqu'ici-bas toute âme", stanzas 1-3,5-8,10-12 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Emiliano Renaud (1875 - 1932), "Aveu", 1932, published 2009 [ contralto and piano ], from Six Romances pour Madame Sigrid Onegin, contralto superbe, no. 6, Québec, Éd. du Nouveau Théâtre Musical [sung text not yet checked]
by Paul Rougnon (1846 - 1934), "Puisqu'ici bas toute âme", published <<1886 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Rêverie", 1851, published 1852, stanzas 1,2,4-10,12 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], Éd. Richault [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Heinrich Leuthold (1827 - 1879) , "Lied", appears in Fünf Bücher französischer Lyrik vom Zeitalter der Revolution bis auf unsere Tage in Übersetzungen von Emanuel Geibel und Heinrich Leuthold, Stuttgart: Cotta'scher Verlag, first published 1862 ; composed by Robert von Hornstein.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "As each soul here below", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English [singable] (Peter Low) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) [singable] (Angelo Zanardini) , "Dolce pensier"
SPA Spanish (Español) (Alberto Bonati) , "Ya que aquí abajo toda alma", 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: 48
Word count: 190

Since here on earth each soul

Language: English after the French (Français)

Since here on earth each soul
gives to another one
its music, its flame,
or its perfume;
 
since here on earth each thing
always gives
its thorn or its rose
to its beloved;
 
since April gives to the oaks
a charming rustling noise,
and night gives to troubled minds
the oblivion of sleep;
 
since to the branch
the air gives the bird,
since to periwinkles
the dawn gives drops of dew;
 
and since the ocean wave
when it comes to rest
gives a kiss
to the shore;
 
I give you now,
as I lean over you,
the very best thing
that I have inside me!
 
So accept my thought
(a sad one, as it happens)
which like the dew
reaches you as teardrops.
 
Accept my countless wishful words,
oh my beloved!
Accept the flame or shadow
of all my days!
 
Accept my passionate raptures,
free of all suspicion,
and all the caresses
of my songs;
 
and my mind which travels the seas,
at random with no sail,
and follows no star
except your eyes;
 
and my muse, dreamily rocked
by the passing hours,
which weeps when you weep
and so weeps often.
 
Accept, oh my beauty,
my heavenly treasure,
this my heart which would be nothing
if love were removed!

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

Singable translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Peter Low, (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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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, written 1836, appears in Les voix intérieures, no. 11, first published 1837

This text was added to the website: 2020-03-11
Line count: 48
Word count: 210