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by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900)
Translation © by Peter Low

Oh ! Écoute la symphonie
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Oh ! Écoute la symphonie ; 
Rien n'est doux comme une agonie 
Dans la musique indéfinie 
Qu'exhale un lointain vaporeux ;

D'une langueur la nuit s'enivre, 
Et notre cœur qu'elle délivre 
Du monotone effort de vivre 
Se meurt d'un trépas langoureux.

Glissons entre le ciel et l'onde,
Glissons sous la lune profonde ;
Toute mon âme, loin du monde,
S'est réfugiée en tes yeux,

Et je regarde tes prunelles
Se pâmer sous les chanterelles,
Comme deux fleurs surnaturelles 
Sous un rayon mélodieux.

Oh ! écoute la symphonie ;
Rien n'est doux comme l'agonie
De la lèvre à la lèvre unie
Dans la musique indéfinie...

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900), "Musique sur l'eau", written 1893, appears in Au jardin de l'Infante, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897 [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 Albert Bertelin (1872 - 1951), "Musique sur l'eau", published [1903] [ voice and piano ], from Dix Poésies tirées du Jardin de l'Infante de A. Samain, no. 5, Paris, Éd. E. Demets [sung text not yet checked]
  • by René Chansarel (1864 - 1945), "Écoute la symphonie", published 1921 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze poëmes chantés, no. 3, Éd. E. Demets (Max Eschig) [sung text not yet checked]
  • by (François-Clément) Théodore Dubois (1837 - 1924), "Écoute la Symphonie", published 1905 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from Musiques sur l'eau, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Philippe Gaubert (1879 - 1941), "Musique sur l'eau", 1914, published 1914 [ medium voice and piano ], from Au Jardin de l'Infante, no. 6, Heugel et Cie [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Arthur Iberê de Lemos (1901 - 1967), "Musique sur l'eau", op. 7 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Édouard Nordi (flourished c1907), "Musique sur l'eau", 1907 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes (Albert Samain), no. 3, Bruxelles, Éd. Fernand Lauweryns [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Maurice Pesse (1881 - 1943), "Musique sur l'eau", published [1911] [ voice and piano ], from 8 Mélodies, no. 7, Paris, Éd. A. Bourlant-Ladam [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Émile Poirson , "Musique sur l'eau", op. 1 no. 11, published [1907] [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons de poètes, no. 11, Éd. A.Z. Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Florent Schmitt (1870 - 1958), "Musique sur l'eau", op. 33 (1898), published 1913 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], Paris: Albert Zunz Mathot [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (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: 20
Word count: 98

Oh, listen to the symphony
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Oh, listen to the symphony -
nothing is as sweet as an agony
evoked by the indefinite music
that a hazy distance exhales.

Night becomes drunk with languor,
and our hearts, which she delivers
from the monotonous effort of living,
expire in a languorous death.

Let us slide between sky and ocean,
let us slide under the deep moon.
All my soul, far from the world
has taken refuge in your eyes,

and I watch those eyes of yours
enraptured by the soaring violins
like two supernatural flowers
in a melodious ray of light.

Oh, listen to the symphony;
nothing is as sweet as the agony
of lips joined to lips
to the sound of indefinite music.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Musique sur l'eau" = "Music on the water"

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

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900), "Musique sur l'eau", written 1893, appears in Au jardin de l'Infante, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2022-05-25
Line count: 20
Word count: 116

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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