Le couchant dardait ses rayons suprêmes
Et le vent berçait les nénuphars blêmes ;
Les grands nénuphars entre les roseaux
Tristement luisaient sur les calmes eaux.
Moi j'errais tout seul, promenant ma plaie
Au long de l'étang, parmi la saulaie
Où la brume vague évoquait un grand
Fantôme laiteux se désespérant
Et pleurant avec la voix des sarcelles
Qui se rappelaient en battant des ailes
Parmi la saulaie où j'errais tout seul
Promenant ma plaie ; et l'épais linceul
Des ténèbres vint noyer les suprêmes
Rayons du couchant dans ses ondes blêmes
Et des nénuphars, parmi les roseaux,
Des grands nénuphars sur les calmes eaux.

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, in Paysages tristes, pages 51-52.

Text Authorship:

• by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Promenade sentimentale", written 1866, appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 3. Paysages tristes, no. 3, Paris, Édition Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [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 Mathieu Alvado (b. 1978), "Promenade sentimentale", 2006, published 2008 [ soprano and piano ], Éd. Delatour France [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Bordes (1863 - 1909), "Promenade sentimentale", 1886, published 1902 [ voice and piano ], from Paysages tristes, no. 4, Paris, Mergault ; later published by Hamelle in 1912 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jean-Marc Déhan (1929 - 2009), "Promenade sentimentale" [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies, 2^ème série, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Raoul Gradis (1861 - 1943), "Promenade sentimentale", published 1897 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Thomas Alexandrovitch de Hartmann (1885 - 1956), "Promenade sentimentale", op. 69 no. 3, published 1941 [ voice and piano ], from Paysages tristes, no. 3, Paris, Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
• by Henry de Marliave , "Promenade sentimentale" [ voice and piano ], Paris, H. Marliave [sung text not yet checked]
• by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Promenade sentimentale", op. 57 no. 3 (1995), published 2001 [ SATT chorus ], from Sieben Chansons zu vier Stimmen nach Texten von Paul Verlaine, no. 3, Goldbach [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Promenade sentimentale", op. 38 no. 4 (1916), published 1924 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Spleens et Détresses, no. 4, Paris, Salabert [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Aleksandra Andreyevna Kublitskaya-Piotukh, née Beketova (1860 - 1923) ; composed by Ivan Ivanovich Kryzhanovsky.
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• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Aleksandr Matveyevich Zhitomirsky.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• ENG English (Corinne Orde) , "Sentimental stroll", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "Promenade Sentimental", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 3. Somber Landscapes, no. 3

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Geoffrey Wieting , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 103