by
Jean Reboul (1796 - 1864)
Tout n'est qu'images fugitives
Language: French (Français)
Tout n'est qu'images fugitives ;
Coupe d'amertume ou de miel,
Chansons joyeuses ou plaintives,
Abusent des lèvres fictives :
Il n'est rien de vrai que le ciel.
Tout soleil naît, s'élève et tombe :
Tout trône est artificiel ;
La plus haute gloire succombe ;
Tout s'épanouit pour la tombe,
Et rien n'est brillant que le ciel.
Navigateur d'un jour d'orage,
Jouet des vagues, le mortel,
Repoussé de chaque rivage,
Ne voit [qu'écueil]1 sur son passage,
Et rien n'est calme que le ciel.
E. Tinel sets stanzas 1-2
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Mme. Pauline Fouré-Lœffler, ed., La France Lyrique: album des meilleurs poésies lyriques des auteurs français, Brunswic: Edouard Leibrock, 1853, Pages 356-357.
1 Wagner: "qu'écueils"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by René de Boisdeffre (1838 - 1906), "Soupir", op. 3 no. 3 (<<1867) [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, recueil 1, no. 3, Éd. G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edgar Pierre Joseph Tinel (1854 - 1912), "Tout n'est qu'images fugitives", op. 40 (Six Mélodies pour chant et piano = Zes Melodiën voor Zang & Piano) no. 4, published 1892, stanzas 1-2 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), "Tout n'est qu'images fugitives", WWV 58 (1839) [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 79
All is but fleeting images
Language: English after the French (Français)
All is but fleeting images;
Goblet of bitterness or of honey,
Songs joyous or mournful,
Deceive imagined lips:
There is nothing true but heaven.
Each sun is born, rises and sets:
Each throne is man-made;
The highest glory gives way;
Everything blossoms for the grave,
And nothing shines but heaven.
Seafarer of a stormy day,
Plaything of the waves, the mortal,
Driven away from every shore,
Sees only the [reef]1 along his way,
And nothing is peaceful but heaven.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
Translations of titles:
"Soupir" = "Sigh"
"Tout n'est qu'images fugitives" = "All is but fleeting images"
1 Wagner: "reefs"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (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 Jean Reboul (1796 - 1864), "Soupir"
This text was added to the website: 2025-09-22
Line count: 15
Word count: 80
