by
Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926)
Le jour où je vous vis pour la première...
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG ITA
Le jour où je vous vis pour la première fois,
Vous aviez un air triste et gai : dans votre voix
Pleuraient des rossignols captifs, sifflaient des merles ;
Votre bouche rieuse, où fleurissaient des perles,
Gardait à ses deux coins d'imperceptibles plis ;
Vos grands yeux bleus semblaient des calices remplis
Par l'orage, et séchant les larmes de la pluie
A la brise d'avril qui chante et les essuie ;
Et des ombres passaient sur votre front vermeil
Comme un [papillon noir]1 dans un rais de soleil.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• C. Cui About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Les caresses, Nouvelle Édition, Paris, G. Charpentier, [no date], page 5.
1 Cui: "noir papillon"
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 César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Le jour où je vous vis", op. 44 no. 11 (1890) [ voice and piano ], from Vingt Poèmes de Jean Richepin, no. 11, Éd. "Au Menestrel" Henri Heugel, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gabriel Dupont (1878 - 1914), "La rencontre", published 1911 [ high voice and piano ], from Les caresses, no. 1, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Le jour où je vous vis", op. 48, Heft 1 (Floréal) no. 1 (1924), published 1927 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le poème de l'amour, no. 1, Éd. Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Corinne Orde) , "The day when I saw you", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Francesco Campanella) , "Il giorno che ti vidi", copyright © 2013, (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: 10
Word count: 84
The day when I saw you
Language: English after the French (Français)
The day when I saw you for the first time,
You had an air that was sad and gay: in your voice
Captive nightingales wept, blackbirds whistled;
Your laughing mouth, where pearls formed like flowers,
Kept imperceptible creases at its two corners;
Your large blue eyes seemed like chalices filled
With the storm and drying the tears of rain
In the April breeze that sings and wipes them;
And shadows passed across your rosy brow
Like a black butterfly in a ray of sunlight.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Corinne Orde, (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 Richepin (1849 - 1926), no title, written 1877, appears in Les Caresses, in 1. Floréal, no. 2, Paris, Éd. M. Dreyfous, first published 1882
This text was added to the website: 2007-11-20
Line count: 10
Word count: 84