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by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869)
Translation © by Peter Low
L'automne
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG
Salut ! bois couronnés d'un reste de verdure ! Feuillages jaunissants, sur les gazons épars ! Salut, derniers beaux jours ! Le deuil de la nature Convient à la douleur et plaît à mes regards ! Je suis d'un pas rêveur le sentier solitaire, J'aime à revoir encor, pour la dernière fois, Ce soleil pâlissant, dont la faible lumière Perce à peine à mes pieds l'obscurité des bois ! Oui, dans ces jours d'automne où la nature expire, A ses regards voilés, je trouve plus d'attraits, C'est l'adieu d'un ami, c'est le dernier sourire Des lèvres que la mort va fermer pour jamais ! Ainsi, prêt à quitter l'horizon de la vie, Pleurant de mes longs jours l'espoir évanoui, Je me retourne encore, et d'un regard d'envie Je contemple ses biens dont je n'ai pas joui ! Terre, soleil, vallons, belle et douce nature, Je vous dois une larme aux bords de mon tombeau ; L'air est si parfumé ! la lumière est si pure ! Aux regards d'un mourant le soleil est si beau ! Je voudrais maintenant vider jusqu'à la lie Ce calice mêlé de nectar et de fiel ! Au fond de cette coupe où je buvais la vie, Peut-être restait-il une goutte de miel ? Peut-être l'avenir me gardait-il encore Un retour de bonheur dont l'espoir est perdu ? Peut-être, dans la foule, une âme que j'ignore Aurait compris mon âme, et m'aurait répondu ?... La fleur tombe en livrant ses parfums au zéphire ; A la vie, au soleil, ce sont là ses adieux ; Moi, je meurs et mon âme, au moment qu'elle expire, S'exhale comme un son triste et mélodieux.
F. Grast sets stanzas 1-3, 5, 8
E. Lacheurié sets stanzas 1, 3
A. de Massa sets stanzas 1-2, 5, 7-8
Text Authorship:
- by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869), "L'automne", appears in Méditations poétiques [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 Max Arham (flourished 1911-1917), "L'automne", <<1911 [ voice and piano ], Paris, M. Senart, B. Roudanez et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Félix Bodin (1795 - 1837), "L'Automne" [ high voice, piano or harp ], Paris, Éd. Victor Dufaut et Dubois, successeurs de Bochsa et Mme Duhan [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charlotte Devéria, née Thomas (1856 - 1885), "L'Automne", <<1877 [ high voice and piano ], from 16 Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by François Gabriel Grast (1803 - 1871), "L'automne", stanzas 1-3,5,8 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eugène Lacheurié (b. 1831), "L'automne", published 1897, stanzas 1,3 [ medium voice and piano ], in the musical supplement to 'Illustration, no. 2835 (November 13, 1897) [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Philippe Alfred Régnier de Massa, comte Gronau (1837 - 1913), "L'Automne", stanzas 1-2,5,7-8 [ medium voice and piano ], from Recueil de Mélodies, 1er volume, no. 8, Durand, Schoenewerk [sung text not yet checked]
- by Erkki Gustaf Melartin (1875 - 1937), "L'automne", op. 58 no. 6 (1909) [ voice and piano ], from Uusia lauluja vanhoihin sanoihi, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Niedermeyer (1802 - 1861), "L'automne" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "L'Automne", 1852 [ tenor and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "V jeseni", Prague, first published 1877
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Autumn", 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: 32
Word count: 259
Autumn
Language: English after the French (Français)
I greet you, woods crowned with a remnant of green! Yellowing foliage, above sparse grass! A greet you, the last fine days! Nature's mourning-clothes match my pain and please my eyes! I walk dreamily on the lonely path, I like to see again, for a final time, the paler sunshine, whose feeble light scarcely pierces at my feet the darkness of the woods! Yes, on these autumn days when Nature dies back, I find more charm in her veiled gaze, it's a farewell from a friend, it's the final smile of lips that death will close forever! Thus, ready to leave the horizon of life, weeping for the lost hope of my long days, I return again, and with envious eyes, I contemplate life's gifts that I did not enjoy! Earth, sun, valleys, beautiful gentle Nature, I owe you a tear on the edge of my tomb. The air is so fragrant! The light is so pure! In a dying man's eyes the sun is so beautiful! I would like now to drain to the dregs this chalice of nectar mingled with gall! At the bottom of this cup where I used to drink life perhaps there was still a drop of honey? Perhaps the future still held for me a renewal of bliss that I'd ceased to hope for? Perhaps, in the crowd, a soul I never knew would have understood my soul, and responded to me? The flower falls, releasing its perfumes to the breeze; those are its farewells to life, to the sun; And as I die, my soul, at the moment it expires, breathes out as it were a sad melodious sound.
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 Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869), "L'automne", appears in Méditations poétiques
This text was added to the website: 2022-06-16
Line count: 32
Word count: 276