by Henri Barbusse (1874 - 1935)
La lettre
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG
Je t'écris et la lampe écoute. L'horloge attend à petits coups. Je vais fermer les yeux sans doute, et je vais m'endormir en vous. La lampe est douce et j'ai la fièvre on n'entend que ta voix, ta voix. J'ai ton nom qui rit sur ma lèvre et ta caresse est dans mes doigts. J'ai notre douceur de naguère, ton pauvre cœur sanglote en moi et mirêvant, je ne sais guère si c'est moi qui t'écris ou toi.
Text Authorship:
- by Henri Barbusse (1874 - 1935), "La lettre", appears in Les Pleureuses, Paris, Éd. Charpentier, first published 1896 [author's text not yet checked 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 Louis Aubert (1877 - 1968), "La lettre", 1900, published 1909 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze Chants, no. 8, Paris, Édition Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Aulagnon (d. 1957), "La lettre", published 1912 [ high voice and piano ], in the supplement "Album Musica", no. 115, of the revue "Musica", Pierre Lafitte et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Agnelle Bundervoët (1922 - 2015), "La lettre", 1954, copyright © 1965 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francisco Chiaffitelli (1881 - 1954), "La lettre", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], Paris: Max Eschig & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marc Delmas (1885 - 1931), "La Lettre", op. 28 (Cinq mélodies) no. 1 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. J. Hamelle (Ancienne Maison J. Maho) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Irène Fuerison (1875 - 1931), "La lettre", op. 79 (1923) [ voice and piano ], Struyf, Gand [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "La lettre", published 1906 [ voice and piano ], from Poèmes du silence - vibrations musicales - 2ème série, no. 11, Paris: Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Albert Phaneuf (1919 - 1978), as Maurice Dela, "La lettre" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jacques Guillaume de Sauville de la Presle (1888 - 1969), "La lettre", published 1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Guillermo Uribe Holguín (1880 - 1971), "La lettre", op. 4 (Seis canciones) no. 2 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "The Letter", copyright © 2001, (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: 12
Word count: 78