Ma belle amie est morte:
Je pleurerai toujours;
[Sous]1 la tombe elle emporte
Mon âme et mes amours.
Dans le ciel, sans m'attendre,
Elle s'en retourna;
L'ange qui l'emmena
Ne voulut pas me prendre.
Que mon sort est amer!
Ah!  sans amour, s'en aller sur la mer!

La blanche créature
Est couchée au cercueil.
Comme dans la nature
Tout me paraît en deuil!
La colombe oubliée
Pleure et songe à l'absent;
Mon âme pleure et sent
Qu'elle est dépareillée.
Que mon sort est amer!
Ah!  sans amour, s'en aller sur la mer!

Sur moi la [nuit]2 immense
[S'étend]3 comme un linceul;
Je chante ma romance
Que le ciel entend seul.
Ah!  comme elle était belle,
[Et comme]4 je l'aimais!
Je n'aimerai jamais
Une femme autant qu'elle.
Que mon sort est amer!
Ah!  sans amour, s'en aller sur la mer!

P. Viardot-García sets stanzas 1, 3
E. de Polignac sets stanzas 1-2

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Théophile Gauthier, La comédie de la mort, Desessart editeur, Paris, 1838, page 227.

¹ Viardot: "Dans"
² Viardot: "mer"
³ Fauré: "Plane"
⁴ Fauré: "Et combien"; Viardot: "Comme"

Authorship:

• by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "Lamento", subtitle: "La chanson du pêcheur", appears in La Comédie de la Mort, first published 1838 [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 Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869), "Sur les lagunes", op. 7 no. 3 (<<1841) [ voice and orchestra ], from Les Nuits d'Été, no. 3, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Paul Bertrie , "La chanson du pêcheur", subtitle: "Lamento", published [1872] [ voice and piano ], Paris, Ed. E. Heu [sung text not yet checked]
• by Édouard Boilly (1799 - 1854), "La chanson du pêcheur" [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Édouard Bruguière (d. 1863), "Ma belle amie est morte - Lamento", published c1838 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Ed. Castelin & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louise Clarke , "My love is dead - Ma belle amie est morte", published 1896, Melbourne, Sydney, W. H. Glen & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul-Charles-Marie Curet (1848 - 1917), as Paul Puget, "Lamento - La chanson du pêcheur", published 1881 [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, Vol. 1, no. 19, Paris, Girod [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alexandre Gustave Daussoigne-Méhul (1830 - 1902), "Ma belle amie est morte !", published 1873 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
• by Félicien César David (1810 - 1876), "La chanson du pêcheur", 1845, published 1866 [ medium voice and piano ], E. Gérard [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Jules Toussaint De Sutter (1889 - 1959), "Lamento - Ma belle amie est morte", 1937 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Charles Gustave) Alban Cocural Dorcy (1856 - 1931), "Lamento", copyright © 1890 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 4, Paris, Durdilly [sung text not yet checked]
• by (François-Clément) Théodore Dubois (1837 - 1924), "Lamento - La chanson du pêcheur", published 1903 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sylvain Dupuis (1856 - 1931), "La chanson du pêcheur - Lamento", from Six mélodies, no. 6, Bruxelles, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Chanson du pêcheur (Lamento)", op. 4 no. 1 (1872), published 1877 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], Paris, Choudens [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ferdinand-François Féret (b. 1823), "Ah ! Sans amour s'en aller sur la mer !", published 1856 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Anna François , "Lamento", op. 32 no. 1, published 1899 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies, no. 1, Paris, G. Legouix [sung text not yet checked]
• by André Gédalge (1856 - 1926), "La chanson du pêcheur", 1878 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by L. Giunti-Bellini , "Lamento", c1855 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "La chanson du pêcheur", subtitle: "Lamento", CG. 397 (1841), published 1895 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Ma belle amie est morte", subtitle: "Lamento", CG 404 (1872), published 1877 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], H. Lemoine [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Théodore Jadoul (b. 1848), "Ma belle amie est morte", 1874 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Pierre Joret , "Lamento - Chanson du pêcheur", published 1890 [ voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies, no. 1, Paris, L. Laloue [sung text not yet checked]
• by Léon Jouret (1828 - 1905), "La chanson du pêcheur", Bruxelles, Ed. Meynne Cons. Royal d'Anvers [sung text not yet checked]
• by Théodore Jouret (1821 - 1887), "La chanson du pêcheur" [sung text not yet checked]
• by René Jacques Koering (b. 1940), "Sur les lagunes", published 1984 [ voice and orchestra ], from Nuits d'été daraus, no. 2, a re-orchestration of the melody by Berlioz ; Paris, München : Salabert [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louis (Trouillon) Lacombe (1818 - 1884), "Lamento - La chanson du pêcheur", op. 56 no. 2, published 1860 [ voice and piano ], Paris, G. Brandus et S. Dufour [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Charles Lefebvre (1843 - 1917), "Lamento", subtitle: "La chanson du pêcheur", published c1873 [ voice and piano ], from Six poésies mises en musique, no. 4, Paris, G. Hartmann [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Ferdinand Lenepveu (1840 - 1910), "Lamento", published 1881 [ baritone and piano ], Paris, Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hippolyte Monpou (1804 - 1841), "Sur la mer", 1837, published 1838? [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Bernard-Latte [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880), "Ma belle amie est morte", 1852, published 1852 [ high voice and piano ], from Les voix mystérieuses, no. 4, Paris, Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Émile Paladilhe (1844 - 1926), "Chanson du pêcheur", subtitle: "Lamento", 1867, published 1872 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant, no. 9, Paris, Éd. G. Hartmann [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Georges Pantillon (1870 - 1962), "La chanson du pêcheur", published 1925 [ four-part men's chorus a cappella ], Ed. La Chaux-de-Fonds [sung text not yet checked]
• by Felipe Pedrell (1841 - 1922), "La chanson du pêcheur", subtitle: "Lamento", published 1877 [ high voice and piano ], from Consolations - 12 Mélodies sur des poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 11, Milan: Francesco Lucca [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Jules Philipot (1824 - 1897), "Lamento", op. 120, published 1874 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poèmes et Chants, Poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 1, Paris, Léon Grus [sung text not yet checked]
• by Edmond de Polignac, prince (1834 - 1901), "Sur les lagunes", published 1905, stanzas 1-2 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Astruc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Frederick A. Post , "La chanson du pêcheur", published 1886 [ medium voice and piano ], Milan, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jean-Théodore Radoux (1835 - 1911), "La chanson du pêcheur", subtitle: "Lamento", published 1874 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, L. Gregh [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jules Regnaud , "Lamento - La chanson du pêcheur", op. 2 no. 2, published 1865 [ medium voice, piano, and violin or cello ], from Deux mélodies de Théophile Gautier, no. 2, Paris, Flayland [sung text not yet checked]
• by Mathilde, Baroness Willy de Rothschild (1832 - 1924), "La chanson du pêcheur", published 1875 [ voice and piano ], from Trois nouvelles mélodies, no. 3, from Trente mélodies, no. 8, Paris [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Gabriel de Saint-Quentin (1846 - 1926), "Ma belle amie est morte (Lamento)" [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Lamento", 1850 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alice Salvator , "Lamento", published 1863 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Gambogi frères [sung text not yet checked]
• by Étienne Soubre (1813 - 1871), "La chanson du pêcheur", 1847 [ soprano and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jean-Léonard Terry (1816 - 1882), "Lamento du pêcheur" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jozef Troch , "Que mon sort est amer", published 1845 [ voice and piano ], from Les echos de la dendre: Album de chant 1845, no. 5, Bruges [sung text not yet checked]
• by Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Lamento", published 1886, stanzas 1,3 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Enoch Frères & Costallat [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Eugène-Léon Vivier (1817 - 1900), "La chanson du pêcheur", subtitle: "Lamento", published 1850 [ voice and piano ], London, Wessel & Cie.; Berlin, H. Schleisinger [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) , "Auf den Lagunen" ; composed by Hector Berlioz.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "La mia bella amica è morta", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Bertram Kottmann , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor] , Anne Rodier

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 139

Mein Schönliebchen ist tot,
immerzu werde ich weinen.
Ins Grab nimmt sie
mein Herz und meine Liebe mit.
Ohne auf mich zu warten
kehrte sie in den Himmel zurück;
der Engel, der sie dorthin führte,
wollte mich nicht mitnehmen.
Wie bitter ist doch mein Schicksal!
Ach! Ohne eine Liebe hinaus aufs Meer!

Der weiße Leib
ruht im Sarg;
die ganze Natur
scheint zu trauern!
Die vergessene Taube
weint und denkt an die Entrückte;
meine Seele weint und spürt,
dass sie zertrennt ist.
Wie bitter mein Los ist!
Ach! Ohne eine Liebe hinaus aufs Meer!

Über mir breitet sich die unendliche Nacht
wie ein Leichentuch aus.
Ich singe mein Liebeslied,
das nur der Himmel hört.
Ach! Wie schön sie war,
und wie ich sie liebte!
Ich werde niemals mehr
eine Frau so lieben wie sie.
Wie bitter ist doch mein Los!
Ach! Ohne eine Liebe
hinaus aufs Meer!