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by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900)
Translation © by Peter Low
Nuit blanche
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Cette nuit, tu prendras soin que dans chaque vase Frissonne, humide encore, une gerbe de fleurs. Nul flambeau dans la chambre - où tes chères pâleurs Se noieront comme un rêve en des vapeurs de gaze. Pour respirer tous nos bonheurs avec emphase, Sur le piano triste, où trembleront des pleurs, Tes mains feront chanter d'angéliques douleurs Et je t'écouterai, silencieux d'extase. Tels nous nous aimerons, sévères et muets. Seul, un baiser parfois sur tes ongles fluets Sera la goutte d'eau qui déborde des urnes, O Soeur ! et dans le ciel de notre pureté Le virginal Désir des amours taciturnes Montera lentement comme un astre argenté.
Authorship:
- by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900), "Nuit blanche", 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 Georges Antoine (1892 - 1918), "Nuit blanche", op. 5 no. 3, published 1926 [ medium voice and piano ], from Album de six mélodies, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
- by René-Emmanuel Baton (1879 - 1940), as Rhené-Baton, "Nuit blanche", op. 18 (Deux Mélodies) no. 1 (1911), published 1912 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Chansarel (1864 - 1945), "Nuit blanche", published 1907 [ medium voice and piano ], from Évocations, 4 poèmes d'A. Samain, no. 4, Paris, Éd. L. Grus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aloys Claussmann (1850 - 1926), "Nuit blanche", op. 57 (Quatre mélodies) no. 2, published [1913] [ high voice and piano ], Clermont-Ferrand, Éditions Charles Perretière [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marc Delmas (1885 - 1931), "Nuit blanche", 1921, published 1921 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Paris, Éd. Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Philippe Gaubert (1879 - 1941), "Nuit blanche", 1911, published 1914 [ high voice and piano ], from Au Jardin de l'Infante, no. 1, Heugel et Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Désiré Émile Inghelbrecht (1880 - 1965), "Nuit blanche", 1908, published 1911, first performed 1911 [ high voice and piano ], from Au Jardin de L'Infante, no. 2, Éd. Albert Zunz Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Touchard (flourished 1910-1923), "Nuit blanche", 1921, published 1923 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Sleepless night", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-10-18
Line count: 14
Word count: 107
Sleepless night
Language: English after the French (Français)
Tonight you will carefully place in every vase a spray of flowers, trembling and still moist. Put no candles in the bedroom - where your dear paleness will drown like a dream in mists of gauze. To breathe our happiness strongly, play the sad piano, which will tremble with tears, and make your hands sing of angelic sorrows - and I will listen, silent with ecstasy. Thus we will make love, severely, without speaking. A single kiss at times on your slender fingers will be the drop of water that overflows the jug, O Sister! and in the sky of our purity the virginal Desire of taciturn loves will rise slowly like a silvery star.
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:
- a text in French (Français) by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900), "Nuit blanche", written 1893, appears in Au jardin de l'Infante, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897
This text was added to the website: 2022-06-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 115