Soir païen
Language: French (Français)
C'est un beau soir, couleur de rose et d'ambre clair
Le temple d'Adonis, en haut du promontoire,
Découpe sur fond d'or sa colonnade noire,
Et la première étoile a brillé sur la mer...
Pendant qu'un roseau pur module un lent accord
Là-bas, Pan, accoudé sur les monts se soulève
Pour voir danser pieds nus les nymphes sur la grève
Et des vaisseaux d'Asie embaument le vieux port...
Des femmes, épuisant tout bas l'heure incertaine
Causent, l'urne appuyée au bord de la fontaine,
Et des boeufs accouplés délaissent [les sillons]1...
La nuit vient parfumée aux roses de Syrie
Et Diane au croissant clair, ce soir en rêverie,
Au fond des grands bois noirs qu'argente un long rayon
Baise ineffablement les yeux d'Endymion.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• C. Tournemire View original text (without footnotes)
1 Tournemire: "le sillon"
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 Alfredo Casella (1883 - 1947), "Soir païen", op. 9 no. 1 (1905) [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois Lyriques, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Philippe Gaubert (1879 - 1941), "Soir païen" [ voice, flute and piano ], Éd. Enoch & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), "Soir païen", op. 35 (Quatre mélodies) no. 4 (1908-1909), published 1918? [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Philippo [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Tournemire (1870 - 1939), "Soir païen", op. 39 no. 1 (1910), from Tryptique, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "A Grecian Evening", copyright © 2008, (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: 15
Word count: 122
A Grecian Evening
Language: English after the French (Français)
It is a beautiful evening, rose- and light-amber-coloured.
The temple of Adonis, high up on the promontory,
carves its black colonnade onto the golden background,
and the first star has shone upon the sea.
While in the background a pure reed flute plays a slow chord,
Pan, leaning on his elbows on the hills, raises himself
to see the nymphs dancing barefoot on the shore,
and the air of the old harbour is fragrant with the scents of Asian vessels.
Taking full advantage of this nebulous hour, women talk,
leaning their urns on the edge of the spring,
and steers, yoked together, quit the furrows.
The night comes, perfumed with roses of Syria,
and behind the great black woods, silvered by a long ray,
Diana with her bright crescent, in a reverie this evening,
ineffably kisses the eyes of Endymion.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2008 by Sharon Krebs, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-26
Line count: 15
Word count: 140
