Mystiques barcarolles,
Romances sans paroles,
Chère, puisque tes yeux,
  Couleur des cieux,

Puisque ta voix, étrange
Vision qui dérange
Et trouble l'horizon
  De ma raison,

Puisque l'arôme insigne
De ta pâleur de cygne,
Et puisque la candeur
  De ton odeur,

Ah ! puisque tout ton être,
Musique qui pénètre,
Nimbes d'anges défunts,
  Tons et parfums,

A, sur d'almes cadences,
En ses correspondances
Induit mon cœur subtil,
  Ainsi soit-il !

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 35-36.

Note: The ampersand (&) as appears in the first publication is changed to "et".

Text Authorship:

• by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "À Clymène", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 16, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1869 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Fidès Devriès (1852 - 1941?), "À Clymène ", published 1907 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
• by Édouard Dreyfus Gonzales du Premio-Real (1876 - 1941), as Jean Dora, "À Clymène", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], from Heures grises, no. 7, Paris, Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "À Clymène", op. 58 no. 4 (1891), published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Cinq mélodies "de Venise", no. 4, Paris, Hamelle [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Marius-François Gaillard (1900 - 1973), "À Clymène ", published 1917 [ voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Costallat [sung text not yet checked]
• by Pavel Ivanovich Kovalev (1889 - 1951), "À Clymène ", op. 19 no. 6, published 1925 [ voice and piano ], from Six chansons sur des poésies de Paul Verlaine, no. 6, Moscow [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Le Flem (1881 - 1984), "À Clymène " [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Georges (Jerzy) Nawrocki , "À Clymène", 1971-2019 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Héctor (or Ettore) Panizza (1875 - 1967), "À Clymène", op. 24 no. 8, published 1899 [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Neuf poésies de Paul Verlaine, no. 8, Milan, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
• by Irena Regina Poldowski (1880 - 1932), "À Clymène", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], London, Chester [sung text not yet checked]

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A Clímene", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "To Clymène", copyright ©

Research team for this page: Didier Pelat , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 68