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Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses, Et qu'un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé, Un conseil d'être heureux semble sortir des choses Et monter vers le cœur troublé ; Un conseil de goûter le charme d'être au monde, Cependant qu'on est jeune et que le soir est beau, Car nous nous en allons comme s'en va cette onde : Elle à la mer, -- nous au tombeau !
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Beau soir", written 1881, appears in Les Aveux, in Dilettantisme, in Souvenirs du Nord, no. 7, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1882 [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 Gaston Carraud (1864 - 1920), "Beau soir" [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Éditions H. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Beau soir", L. 84/(6) (1880), published 1891 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joseph Kaufer (1909 - 1990), "Beau soir", published 1951 [ voice and piano ], from Dover Beach and Other Songs, no. 4, Waukegan, Illinois: Lyric-Art; English version by G. Chapman (copyright renewed, 1939 by G. Shirmer) [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Krásný večer", first published 1893
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Fair evening", copyright © 2016
- ENG English (Henry Grafton Chapman)
- GER German (Deutsch) (Michael Rapke) , "Schönen Abend", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Enrico Magnani) , "Sera incantevole", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "Bella tarde", copyright © 2020, (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: 8
Word count: 68
When rivers are pink in the setting sun, And a slight shiver runs through fields of wheat, A suggestion to be happy seems to rise up from all things And ascends toward the troubled heart ; A suggestion to taste the charms of the world While one is young and the evening is fair, For we are on our way just as this wave is: It is going to the sea, -- and we, to the grave!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Emily Ezust, (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.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Beau soir", written 1881, appears in Les Aveux, in Dilettantisme, in Souvenirs du Nord, no. 7, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1882
This text was added to the website: 2016-09-10
Line count: 8
Word count: 75