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Lentement, doucement, de peur qu’elle se brise, Prendre une âme ; écouter ses plus secrets aveux, En silence, comme on caresse des cheveux ; Atteindre à la douceur fluide de la brise ; Dans l’ombre, un soir d’orage, où la chair s’électrise, Promener des doigts d’or sur le clavier nerveux ; Baisser l’éclat des voix ; calmer l’ardeur des feux ; Exalter la couleur rose à la couleur grise ; Essayer des accords de mots mystérieux Doux comme le baiser de la paupière aux yeux ; Faire ondoyer des chairs d’or pâle dans les brumes ; Et, dans l’âme que gonfle un immense soupir Laisser, en s’en allant, comme le souvenir D’un grand cygne de neige aux longues, longues plumes.
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Text Authorship:
- by Albert Victor Samain (1858 - 1900), "Lentement, doucement", appears in Le chariot d'or, in 1. Les roses dans la coupe, no. 11, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1901 [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 Marguerite Canal (1890 - 1978), "Lentement, doucement", 1921, published <<1924 [ high voice and piano ], from Au Jardin de l'Infante, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Maxime Jamin [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Chansarel (1864 - 1945), "Effleurements", published 1921 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze poëmes chantés, no. 10, Éd. E. Demets (Max Eschig) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alfred André Simon Kullmann (1875 - 1963), "Lentement, doucement", <<1914 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Max Eschig & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Lentement, doucement", published 1908 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, 2ème volume, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léo Sachs (1856 - 1930), "Lentement", published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Deux Mélodies, no. 1, Éd. Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Théodore Terestchenko (1888 - 1950), "Désir", op. 44, published 1917 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éditions Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
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: 2018-11-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 111
Slowly, gently, lest it break, take a soul. Take it, and listen to its most secret confessions in silence, as one caresses someone's hair; attain the fluid gentleness of the breeze; In the shadow, on a stormy evening, when flesh is roused, walk with golden fingers on the nervous keyboard; lower your bright voices; calm the ardour of the fires; exalt the colour pink over the colour gray; attempt to make harmonies of mysterious words soft like the kiss of eyelids on eyes; make the flesh ripple with pale gold in the mists; and in the soul which swells with a great sigh leave, when you depart, as it were the memory of a large snowy swan with long, long feathers.
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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), "Lentement, doucement", appears in Le chariot d'or, in 1. Les roses dans la coupe, no. 11, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1901
This text was added to the website: 2022-12-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 121