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by François Joseph Pierre André Méry (1798 - 1865)
Translation © by Peter Low
Si tu savais que je t'adore
Language: French (Français)
Si tu savais que je t'adore, Comme l'étoile aime le ciel, Comme l'abeille du Mysore Aime la fleur où naît le miel, Tu viendrais, à l'heure où le Gange Au golfe bleu va s'endormir, Tu viendrais, t'asseoir, ô mon ange, [Sous les rosiers]1 de ton émir ! Là, ma douce reine, Sous la nuit sereine, Après un beau jour, Les fleurs ranimées, Les rives aimées, Les nuits embaumées, Tout parle d'amour. Si tu venais, ô non pareille, Comme tu faisais autrefois, Pour dérouler à mon oreille Toutes les perles de ta voix, Je te donnerais, ô mon ange, Mon beau palais de Bengador, Qui met son jardin sur le Gange Et sur la mer ses balcons d'or ! Là, ma douce reine, etc. Si tu [savais]2 quelle merveille Change d'un signe de ma main La [pauvre]3 fille de la veille En sultane du lendemain, Tu croirais demain, ô mon ange, Que le dieu bleu du firmament Est [descendu]4 sur notre Gange Avec le nom de ton amant ! Là, ma douce reine, etc. Ô vierge ! tu marches l'égale Des houris du séjour divin ; Pour te détrôner le Bengale Dans ses fleurs chercherait en vain ! Viens ! oh ! viens à l'heure où le Gange Au golfe bleu va s'endormir ; Viens replier tes ailes d'ange Sous les rosiers de ton émir ! Là, ma douce reine, etc.
C. Widor sets stanzas 1, 3
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Poésies intimes. Mélodies par Méry, Paris, Michel Lévy Frères, 1864, pages 125-127. Note: we have collapsed the refrains that were printed out in full in this edition.
1 Widor: "Sur le balcon"2 Widor: "voyais"
3 Widor: "jeune"
4 Widor: "revenu"
Text Authorship:
- by François Joseph Pierre André Méry (1798 - 1865), "L'Émir de Bengador", appears in Mélodies poétiques, Paris, Éd. Victor Lecou, first published 1853 [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 Victoria Arago , "L'Émir de Bengador", published 1847 [ voice and piano ], Paris : Maison Pacini (Bonoldi freres. succrs.) [sung text not yet checked]
- by P. de Crisenoy , "L'Émir de Bengador", published 1858 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Brandus et Dufour [sung text not yet checked]
- by Auguste de Croisilles (1806 - 1877), "L'Émir de Bengador", published [1840] [ tenor and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel', Maison A. Meissonnier et Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by César Franck (1822 - 1890), "L'Émir de Bengador", FWV. 72 (1842-3), published 1862 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "L'Émir de Bengador", subtitle: "Chanson indienne" [ high voice and piano ], from Chants du soir, no. 3, Éditions Léon Grus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ferdinand Poise Perillier (1828 - 1892), "L'Émir de Bengador", published c1852, Paris, Éd. Benacci-Peschier [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin (1821 - 1910), "Ghazal", subtitle: "Chant d'amour", published [1873] [ medium voice and piano ], from L'Inde, Ode-symphonie en deux parties, no. 9, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Marie Jean Albert Widor (1844 - 1937), "Chanson indienne", stanzas 1,3 [ high voice and piano ], from Quarante mélodies, no. 31, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [an adaptation] ; composed by Jacob Axel Josephson.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Amy Pfrimmer
This text was added to the website: 2017-06-30
Line count: 42
Word count: 224
If you knew that I adore you
Language: English after the French (Français)
If you knew that I adore you, as the star loves the sky, as the bees of Mysore love the flower where honey is born, you would come, at the hour when the Ganges goes to the blue gulf to sleep, you would come, and sit down, oh my angel, under your emir's rosebushes! There, my sweet queen, in the serene night after a beautiful day, the revitalized flowers, the beloved rivers, the fragrant nights, everything speaks of love. If you came, oh unequalled one, as you used to come, to roll out into my ears all the pearls of your voice, I would give you, oh my angel, my beautiful palace of Bengador with the garden overlooking the Ganges and the golden balconies over the sea. There, my sweet queen, etc. If you knew by what miracle a sign of my hand can change a poor girl one day into a sultana the next, you would believe, oh my angel, that the blue god of the firmament has descended onto our Ganges bearing the name of your lover! There, my sweet queen, etc. Oh virgin, you walk as the equal of the houris in the home of the gods; Bengal in vain would seek among its flowers a bloom to surpass your beauty! Come, oh come at the hour when the Ganges goes to the blue gulf to sleep, come and fold up your angel wings under your emir's rose-bushes! There, my sweet queen, etc.
About the headline (FAQ)
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 François Joseph Pierre André Méry (1798 - 1865), "L'Émir de Bengador", appears in Mélodies poétiques, Paris, Éd. Victor Lecou, first published 1853
This text was added to the website: 2022-06-16
Line count: 42
Word count: 246