The Roses | When the sapphire sky is aflame

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by Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823 - 1891)

Translation © by Peter Low

Les Roses

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG

Lorsque le ciel de saphir est [en]¹ feu,
Lorsque l'Eté, de son haleine touche
La folle Nymphe amoureuse, et par jeu
Met un charbon rougissant sur sa bouche;
Quand sa chaleur, dédaigneuse et farouche,
Fait tressaillir le myrte et le cyprès,
On sent brûler sous ses magiques traits
Les fronts blémis, et les lèvres [décloses]²,
Et le riant feuillage des forêts,
Et vous aussi, coeurs enflammés des Roses.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Debussy

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Debussy: "de"
² Debussy: "micloses"

Text Authorship:

by Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823 - 1891), "Les Roses", appears in Les Cariatides, in Les Caprices - en dizains à la manière de Clément Marot, no. 15, first published 1842 [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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Les Roses", L. 28/(13) (1881) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) [singable] (Núria Colomer) , "Les Roses", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Peter Low) , "The Roses", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Geoffrey Wieting

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 68

The Roses

Language: English after the French (Français)

When the sapphire sky is aflame,
when Summer with her warm breath touches
the foolish amorous Nymph and playfully
puts a glowing coal on her mouth,
and when its heat, disdainful and fierce,
makes the myrtle and the cypress quiver,
then beneath its magic rays they are burning:
the pale brows and the half-open lips,
and the forests' laughing foliage,
and you too, flaming hearts of the Roses!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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 Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823 - 1891), "Les Roses", appears in Les Cariatides, in Les Caprices - en dizains à la manière de Clément Marot, no. 15, first published 1842
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-04-21
Line count: 10
Word count: 68