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by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857)
Translation © by Michael P Rosewall
Pâle étoile du soir, messagère lointaine
Language: French (Français)
Pâle étoile du soir, messagère lointaine,
Dont le front sort brillant des voiles du couchant,
De ton palais d'azur, au sein du firmament,
Que regardes-tu dans la plaine ?
La tempête s'éloigne, et les vents sont calmés.
La forêt, qui frémit, pleure sur la bruyère ;
Le phalène doré, dans sa course légère,
Traverse les prés embaumés.
Que cherches-tu sur la terre endormie ?
Mais déjà vers les monts je te vois t'abaisser ;
Tu fuis, en souriant, mélancolique amie,
Et ton tremblant regard est près de s'effacer.
Étoile qui descends vers la verte colline,
Triste larme d'argent du manteau de la Nuit,
Toi que regarde au loin le pâtre qui chemine,
Tandis que pas à pas son long troupeau le suit, --
Étoile, où t'en vas-tu, dans cette nuit immense ?
Cherches-tu sur la rive un [lit]1 dans les roseaux ?
Où t'en vas-tu si belle, à l'heure du silence,
Tomber comme une perle au sein profond des eaux ?
[Ah ! si tu dois mourir, bel astre, et si ta tête
Va dans la vaste mer plonger ses blonds cheveux,
Avant de nous quitter, un seul instant arrête ; -]3
[Étoile de l'amour,]2 [ne descends pas des cieux !]3
R. Hahn sets stanza 3
C. Cortinas sets stanza 3
A. Choudens sets stanzas 1, 3
L. Diémer sets stanza 3
P. Curet sets stanza 3
J. Delorenzi sets stanza 3
L. de Rillé sets lines 17-24
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Alfred de Musset, Premières Poésies (1829-1835), Paris, Charpentier, 1863, pages 176-202, an excerpt from the end of the second part following a line of dots.
1 Hahn: "nid"2 Hahn: "Étoile, écoute-moi!"; omitted by Choudens
3 omitted by Choudens.
Text Authorship:
- by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), no title, written 1831, appears in Premières poésies, in Le saule, first published 1850 [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 Alfred Bachelet (1864 - 1944), "Pâle étoile du soir", published <<1915 [ medium voice (mezzo-soprano) and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 1, Éd. H. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Bonnal Ermend (1881 - 1944), "L'étoile du soir", 1908, published 1926 [ four-part women's chorus and piano or orchestra ], Ed. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugène Bozza (1905 - 1991), "L'étoile du soir" [ chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Antony Choudens (1849 - 1902), "À une étoile", published c1872, stanzas 1,3 [ voice and piano ], from 20 Mélodies, no. 11, Paris: Choudens [sung text checked 1 time]
- by César Cortinas (1890 - 1918), "À une étoile", 1910, stanza 3 [ medium-high voice and piano ], from À Madame la Princesse Marie Lubomirska [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul-Charles-Marie Curet (1848 - 1917), as Paul Puget, "À une étoile", 1870-79?, stanza 3 [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, Vol. 1, no. 15, Éd. Girod [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jorge Delorenzi (b. 1945), "La Nuit", published 1988, stanza 3 [ medium voice and piano ], from Homenaje a Poetas Franceses = Hommage aux Poètes Français, no. 4, Buenos Aires, Édition du compositeur [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Dens , "L'Étoile du soir", <<1911 [ reciter and piano ], Paris, Édition Poulalion [sung text not yet checked]
- by Auguste Descarries (1896 - 1958), "L’Étoile du soir", copyright © 2019 [ voice, piano ], Hélène Panneton, Association pour la diffusion de la musique d'Auguste Descarries (ADMAD) - [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Dethier (1849 - 1933), "Chanson de Bernerette", 1870 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons et rêveries, no. 5, Liège (Belgique), Édition Veuve Léopold Muraille [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Diémer (1843 - 1919), "À une étoile", published 1875, stanza 3 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt Mélodies, no. 5, Paris : Henri Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Henri Emmanuel , "L'Étoile", <<1887 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Ulysse T. du Wast, in Magasin de Musique du Conservatoire [sung text not yet checked]
- by J. Eykens , "Une étoile", published 1874 [ voice and piano ], Mainz, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
- by M. Fiorelli (1882 - 1956), "À une étoile" [ medium voice and piano ], Éditions E. Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "L'étoile", op. 7 no. 6, published 1868 [ voice and piano ], from 12 morceaux pour chant et piano, 1re série, no. 6, Paris : G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "À une étoile", 1890, published 1901, stanza 3 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Yuly Antonovich Kapri (1831 - 1918), as Jules Kapry, "L'Étoile du soir" [ high voice and piano ], from Recueil de Mélodies, no. 20, Moscow, Jurgenson [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul-Jean-Jacques Lacôme d'Estalenx (1838 - 1920), "L'Étoile", op. 11 no. 1, published 1866 [ high voice, piano, and violin or violoncello ], from Trois Lieder avec accompagnement obligé de piano et de violoncelle ou violon, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "L'étoile", subtitle: "Rêverie" [ high voice and piano ], from Troisième recueil de mélodies de V. Massé, no. 3, Éditions Léon Grus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fabert Mayer , "Pâle étoile du soir", published [1909] [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éditions L. Grus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Félicien Auguste Marie Menu de Ménil, Baron (1860 - 1930), "L'Étoile du soir", published [1883] [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Édition J. Iochem; the song begins "Pâle étoile du soir, messagère lointaine" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Muller , "Pâle étoile du soir", published [1909] [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marie Félicie Clémence de Reiset (1828 - 1907), as Vicomtesse de Grandval, "L'Étoile du soir", published 1890? [ voice and piano ], Paris : Henry Lemoine & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Laurent de Rillé (1828 - 1915), "L'Étoile du soir", lines 17-24 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Paul Dupont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Selmer , "L'Étoile de l'amour", op. 12, published [1914] [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. de l'auteur [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (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: 2011-05-22
Line count: 24
Word count: 191
Pale star of evening, distant messenger
Language: English after the French (Français)
Pale star of evening, distant messenger, Whose shining face sparkles amid the sails of the setting sun, From your azure palace in the firmament, What do you look for on the earth [plain]? The tempest moves off and the breezes calm. The trembling forest weeps over the heather: A golden moth, in its effortless flight, Crosses the shrouded meadow. What do you seek on the sleeping earth? But I see you already setting behind the mountains; You flee, smiling, melancholy friend, And your twinkling gaze is about to disappear. Star, descending to the green hillside, Sad, silver rift in the mantle of Night, You, who gaze from afar upon the shepherd, Whose meandering flock follows him step by step, -- Star, where are you going, in this endless night? Do you seek a bed along the riverbank among the reeds? Where are you going so prettily, in this silent hour, Dropping like a pearl into the depths of the waters? Ah! if you must die, dear luminous one, and if you Wish to plunge your blond hair into the vast ocean, Before you leave us, pause for just a moment;-- Star of love, do not depart [descend] from heaven!
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), no title, written 1831, appears in Premières poésies, in Le saule, first published 1850
This text was added to the website: 2022-09-05
Line count: 24
Word count: 198