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Devant une neige un Être de Beauté de haute taille.
Des sifflements de mort et des cercles de musique
sourde font monter, s'élargir et trembler comme un
spectre ce corps adoré : des blessures écarlates et
noires éclatent dans les chairs superbes. Les
couleurs propres de la vie se foncent, dansent, et
se dégagent autour de la Vision, sur le chantier.
Et les frissons s'élèvent et grondent, et la
saveur forcenée de ces effets se chargeant avec
les sifflements mortels et les rauques musiques
que le monde, loin derrière nous, lance sur notre
mère de beauté, - elle recule, elle se dresse. Oh !
nos os sont revêtus d'un nouveau corps amoureux.
* * * * * * * *
Ô la face cendrée, l'écusson de crin, les bras de
cristal ! Le canon sur lequel je dois m'abattre à
travers la mêlée des arbres et de l'air léger !
Confirmed with Monographie imprimée (Paris), 1886
Text Authorship:
- by Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "Being beauteous", appears in Les Illuminations [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Being beauteous", op. 18 no. 7 (1939), published 1940 [ high voice and strings ], from Les Illuminations, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Hans Werner Henze (1926 - 2012), "Being beauteous", 1963, copyright © 1964 [ coloratura soprano, harp, and 4 cellos ], Mainz, Schott ; New York, Associated [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Yen-Chiang Che) , "美的事物", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Being Beauteous", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- JPN Japanese (日本語) (Naoyuki Okada) , "美しくあること", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (José Miguel Llata) , "Being beauteous (Ser de Belleza)", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 17
Word count: 145
In front of the snow stands a tall Beauteous Being. The hissing of death and circles of muffled music make this adored body climb, expand, and tremble: black and scarlet wounds burst in the superb flesh. The proper colors of life darken, dance, and give off around the vision, upon the yard. And the shudders rise and fall, and the maniacal flavor of these effects being charged with the mortal hissing and raucous music that the world, well behind us, hurls on our mother of beauty - she withdraws, she stands up. O! Our bones are dressed once more in a new amorous body. O ashen face, with shield of hair, and arms of crystal! The cannon on which I must throw myself down, amid the scuffle of trees and the light breeze!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "Being beauteous", appears in Les Illuminations
This text was added to the website: 2004-07-04
Line count: 16
Word count: 132