by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation by Anton Englert
Harmonie du soir
Language: French (Français)
Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir ; Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir, — Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige ! — Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir ; Le violon frémit comme un cœur qu'on afflige ; — Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige ! — Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir. Le violon frémit comme un cœur qu'on afflige, Un cœur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir ! — Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir ; Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige. Un cœur tendre qui hait le néant vaste et noir Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige ; — Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige ; Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir !
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 101-102. Note: this was number 43 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but 47 or 48 in subsequent editions.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Harmonie du soir", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 47, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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 Alfredo Amadei , "Harmonie du soir", copyright © 1914 [ voice and piano ], from Six Mélodies, Chant et piano, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Louis Rouhier (A.2.A.) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jan van Amerongen (b. 1938), "Harmonie du soir", 1998, published 1999 [ alto and piano ], from Vier liederen, no. 4, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hendrik Andriessen (1892 - 1981), "Harmonie du soir", 1917, published c1917 [ medium voice and piano ], Amsterdam, Édition G. Alsbach & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Guy Bailly (1925 - 2009), "Harmonie du soir", 1982 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gérard Bertouille (1898 - 1981), "Harmonie du soir", 1940 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Trois poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marguerite Bonnet , "Harmonie du Soir", published 1942 [ high voice and piano ], from Cinq Mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Édition Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "Harmonie du soir", op. 11 no. 2, published 2001, first performed 2001 [ soprano and piano ], from Trois chansons de Charles Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre (Onfroy) de Bréville (1861 - 1949), "Harmonie du soir", 1879, published 1913, first performed 1893 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Rouart Lerolle & Cie (Salabert) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Harmonie du soir", L. 70/(64) no. 2 (1887-9), published 1890 [ voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gaston Doin (1878 - 1962), "Harmonie du soir", published 1950 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies romantiques, no. 7, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Duboscq (1897 - 1938), "Harmonie du soir", 1918, published 1918 [ high voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes de C. Baudelaire, no. 2, Éd. E. Demets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léo Ferré (1916 - 1993), "Harmonie du soir", published 1957 [ voice and piano ], Éd. S.E.M.I. Méridian [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daniel Fleuret (1869 - 1915), "Harmonie du soir" [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "Harmonie du soir", op. 48 no. 4, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal, no. 4, Moscow: Gutheil, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Alexandre) Charles Lecocq (1832 - 1918), "Harmonie du soir " [ medium voice, piano, violin ], Édition Eroïca [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861 - 1935), "Harmonie du soir" [ voice, viola, and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Pierrette Mari (b. 1929), "Harmonie du soir", 1976 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Harmonie du soir ", 2004/6, published 2008 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 3, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Harmonie du soir" [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies choisies, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard Rands (b. 1934), "Harmonie du soir", from Canti del sole, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "Harmonie du soir" [ voice and piano ], from Six nouvelles poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 2, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel de Saint-Quentin (1846 - 1926), "Harmonie du soir" [ medium voice and piano ], from Dix mélodies célèbres, no. 10, Paris, Éd. Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Schopfer (1867 - 1926), as Robert Alger, "Harmonie du soir", 1925, published 1926 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Ricordi (R. 938) [sung text not yet checked]
- by V. S. Sevadjian , "Harmonie du soir", published [1930] [ high voice and piano ], Édition J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jósef-Zygmunt Szulc (1875 - 1956), "Harmonie du soir", published 1923 [ high voice and piano ], from Sept mélodies, recueil 2, no. 7, Paris, Édition Francis Salabert [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leif Thybo (1922 - 2001), "Harmonie du Soir", 1974, published 1976, first performed 1974 [ soprano and piano ], from Trois Chansons de Baudelaire, no. 1, Denmark, Édition Egtved [sung text not yet checked]
- by Judith Lang Zaimont , "Harmonie du soir", 1974, first performed 1975 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons nobles et sentimentales, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anton Englert , "Harmonie des Abends", first published 1904 ; composed by Alexander Zemlinsky.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Harmonie večera"
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Evening harmony", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Evening Harmony", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Árpád Tóth) , "Esti harmónia", written 1920
- POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "Harmonia wieczoru", Kraków, first published 1911
- ROM Romanian (Română) (Alexandru I. Philippide) , "Armonie în amurg"
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Victor Torres) , "Armonía del atadecer", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 138
Harmonie des Abends
Language: German (Deutsch) after the French (Français)
Es naht sich der Abend mit düsterem Schweigen, Den zitternden Blüten ein Weihrauch entquillt; Die Luft ist mit kreisenden Düften erfüllt. O schmerzlicher Walzer, o schmachtender Reigen! Den zitternden Blüten ein Weihrauch entquillt; Wie ein Herz, das gekränkt ward, [erbeben]1 die Geigen, O schmerzlicher Walzer, o schmachtender Reigen! Ernst prangt wie ein Altar des Äthers Gefild. Wie ein Herz, das gekränkt ward, [erbeben]1 die Geigen, Wie ein Herz, dem es bangt, wenn der Tag sich verhüllt; [Ernst prangt wie ein Altar des Äthers Gefild.] Die Sonne, sie scheint sich verblutend zu neigen. Ein Herz, dem es bangt, wenn der Tag sich verhüllt, Sucht Strahlen, die aus der Vergangenheit steigen. Die Sonne, sie scheint sich verblutend zu neigen. Gleich einer Monstranz in mir leuchtet dein Bild.
View original text (without footnotes)
Research team for this page: Peter Donderwinkel , Dr Siglind Bruhn
Confirmed with Französische Lyrik seit der Grossen Revolution bis auf die Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1904 (first publication); later appeared in Gedichte und Skizzen von Charles Baudelaire, ed. by Fritz Gundlach, Leipzig, 1909.
1 Zemlinsky: "erzittern"Text Authorship:
- by Anton Englert , "Harmonie des Abends", first published 1904 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Harmonie du soir", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 47, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Alexander Zemlinsky (1871 - 1942), "Harmonie des Abends", 1916 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Research team for this page: Peter Donderwinkel , Dr Siglind Bruhn
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 125