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I Bientôt nous plongerons dans les froides ténèbres ; Adieu, vive clarté de nos étés trop courts ! J'entends déjà tomber avec [des chocs funèbres]1 Le bois retentissant sur le pavé des cours. Tout l'hiver va rentrer dans mon être : colère, Haine, frissons, horreur, labeur dur et forcé, Et, comme le soleil dans son enfer polaire, Mon cœur ne sera plus qu'un bloc rouge et glacé. J'écoute en frémissant chaque bûche qui tombe ; L'échafaud qu'on bâtit n'a pas d'écho plus sourd. Mon esprit est pareil à la tour qui succombe Sous les coups du bélier infatigable et lourd. Il me semble, bercé par ce choc monotone, Qu'on cloue en grande hâte un cercueil quelque part. Pour qui ? - C'était hier l'été ; voici l'automne ! Ce bruit mystérieux sonne comme un départ. II J'aime de vos longs yeux la lumière verdâtre, Douce beauté, mais [tout aujourd'hui]2 m'est amer, Et rien, ni votre amour, ni le boudoir, ni l'âtre, Ne me vaut le soleil rayonnant sur la mer. Et pourtant aimez-moi, tendre cœur ! soyez mère, Même pour un ingrat, même pour un méchant ; Amante ou sœur, soyez la douceur éphémère D'un glorieux automne ou d'un soleil couchant. Courte [tâche]3 ! La tombe attend ; elle est avide ! Ah ! laissez-moi, mon front posé sur vos genoux, Goûter, en regrettant l'été blanc et torride, De l'arrière-saison le rayon jaune et doux !
G. Fauré sets stanzas 1, 3-5
J. Zoubaloff sets stanzas 5-7
P. Nau sets stanzas 5-7
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs de mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 129-130.
1 some editions: "un choc funèbre"2 some editions: "aujourd'hui tout"
3 some editions: "câche"
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Chant d'automne", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 56 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Chant d'automne", op. 5 no. 1 (1871?), published 1879, stanzas 1,3-5 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Albert Huybrechts (1899 - 1938), "Chant d'automne", 1920 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hyppolyte Mirande (b. 1862), "Chant d'automne", published [1884] [ high voice and piano ], from Mélopées, no. 12, Paris, Éd. J. Naus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre Nau , "Chant d'Automne", stanzas 5-7 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz (1864 - 1955), "Chant d'automne", 1905 [ voice and piano or orchestra ] [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Jacques-Michel Zoubaloff (1876 - 1941), "Chanson d'automne", stanzas 5-7 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 14, Éd. Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Zpěv podzimní", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1919
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Goll) , "Podzimní"
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Song of autumn", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Autumn Song", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
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: 30
Word count: 236
1 Soon we shall plunge into the cold darkness Farewell, sharp brightness of our too short summers! I already hear the firewood falling With a mournful crash onto the paved courtyards. [... ... ... ...] I tremble as I hear each log falling; a scaffold being built does not echo more hollowly. My mind is like a tower that tumbles When struck by a tireless heavy battering-ram. It seems to me, rocked by this monotonous thudding, As if somewhere a coffin is being hastily hammered. For whom? Yesterday it was summer; now it's autumn! This mysterious noise sounds like a departure! 2 I love the greenish light of your long eyes, O gentle beauty. But today I find everything bitter! Nothing, neither your love, nor the boudoir nor the hearth Means as much to me as the sun beaming on the sea! [... ... ... ...] [... ... ... ...]
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Chant d'automne", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 56
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 150