by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778)
Translation © by Peter Low

Que le jour me dure!
Language: French (Français) 
Available translation(s): DUT ENG
Que le [jour]1 me dure!
Passé loin de toi,
toute la nature
n'est plus rien pour moi.

Le plus vert bocage,
[quand]2 tu n'y viens pas,
n'est qu'un lieu sauvage,
pour moi, sans appas.

Hélas! si je passe
Un jour sans te voir,
Je cherche ta trace
Dans mon désespoir...

Quand je t'ai perdue,
Je reste à pleurer,
Mon âme éperdue
Est près d'expirer.

Le coeur me palpite
Quand j'entends ta voix,
Tout mon sang s'agite
Dès que je te vois;

Ouvres-tu la bouche,
Les cieux vont s'ouvrir...
Si ta main me touche,
Je me sens frémir.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Beethoven, Zumsteeg: "temps"
2 Beethoven, Zumsteeg: "Si"

Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ludwig Andreas Gotter (1661 - 1735) ; composed by Norbert Burgmüller, Franz Danzi, Anton Diabelli, Joh. Chr. Jusdorf, Carl Loewe, Franz Xaver Mozart, Friedrich Johann Albrecht Muck, Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai, Corona Elisabeth Wilhelmine Schröter, Gottlieb Streitwolf.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 - 1803) , "Sehnsucht" [an adaptation] ; composed by Ignaz Brüll, Josephine Lang, Friedrich Silcher.
  • Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by John [Jacques] Jacobsson.

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

  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Héctor Vicencio

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 97

How the day weighs on me
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
How the day weighs on me
when I spend it far from you,
all nature now
is nothing to me.
 
The greenest copse,
when you don't meet me there,
is but a wild place
for me, without appeal.
 
Alas, if I spend
a day without seeing you,
I seek traces of you
in my despair.
 
When I have lost you,
I stay and weep.
My distressed soul
is close to expiring.
 
My heart beats fast
when I hear your voice,
my blood becomes excited
as soon as I glimpse you.
 
If you open your mouth,
heaven is about to open...
if your hand touches me,
I can feel myself tremble.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 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:

 

This text was added to the website: 2022-04-22
Line count: 24
Word count: 110