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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

La mer est plus belle
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER SPA
La mer est plus belle
Que les cathédrales,
Nourrice fidèle,
Berceuse de râles,
La mer qui prie
La Vierge Marie !

Elle a tous les dons
Terribles et doux.
J'entends ses pardons
Gronder ses courroux.
Cette immensité
N'a rien d'entêté.

O! si patiente,
Même quand méchante !
Un souffle ami hante
La vague, et nous chante :
« Vous sans espérance,
Mourez sans souffrance ! »

Et puis sous les cieux
Qui s'y rient plus clairs,
Elle a des airs bleus.
Roses, gris et verts...
Plus belle que tous,
Meilleure que nous !

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, written 1880, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 15, Paris, Société générale de Librairie catholique, Éd. Victor Pamé, first published 1881 [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 Jacques Beers (1902 - 1947), "La mer est plus belle", published 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Six chants de Paul Verlaine, no. 2, Amsterdam [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979), "La mer est plus belle", 1910, copyright © 1914 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "La mer est plus belle", L. 85/(81) no. 1 (1891), published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Hamelle [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by André Dulaurens (1873 - 1932), "La mer est plus belle" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "La mer est plus belle", op. 2 (Trois poèmes) no. 3 (1914) [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "La mer de Bournemouth", op. 85 no. 7 (2001), published 2002 [ eight-part chorus (SSAATTBB chorus) ], from Sieben Chansons zu acht Stimmen nach Texten von Paul Verlaine, no. 7, Goldbach [sung text not yet checked]
  • by François-Joseph Sterck , "La mer est plus belle", [1924] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Théodore Terestchenko (1888 - 1950), "Les vagues", published [1913] [ voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , copyright © 2018
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Das Meer ist schöner", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 88

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