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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by François Coppée (1842 - 1908)
Translation © by Emily Ezust

Mai
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Depuis un [mois]1, chère exilée,
Loin de mes yeux tu t'en allas,
Et j'ai vu fleurir des lilas
Avec ma peine inconsolée.

Seul, je fuis ce ciel clair et beau
Dont l'ardent effluve me trouble,
Car l'horreur de l'exil se double
De la splendeur du renouveau.

En vain j'entends contre les vitres,
Dans la chambre où je m'enfermai,
Les premiers insectes de Mai
Heurter leurs maladroits élytres ;

En vain le soleil a souri,
Au printemps je ferme ma porte,
Et veux seulement qu'on m'apporte
Un rameau de lilas fleuri;

Car l'amour dont mon âme est pleine
[Retrouve, parmi]2 ses douleurs
Ton regard dans ces chères fleurs
Et dans leur parfum ton haleine.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   R. Hahn 

R. Hahn sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5
L. Maingueneau sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Maingueneau: "deux"; further changes may exist not shown above.
2 Hahn: "Y trouve parmi"

Text Authorship:

  • by François Coppée (1842 - 1908), "Mai", appears in Les Récits et les Élégies, in Élégies, in 3. Les mois, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1878 [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 Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Mai", 1889, published 1895, stanzas 1-2,4-5 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Martin Lunssens (1871 - 1944), "Mai" [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis Maingueneau (1884 - 1950), "Mai", published 1911, stanzas 1-2,4-5 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Costallat [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Mélant (1855 - 1916), "Mai" [ high voice and piano ], from Les Mois - 12 poésies de F. Coppée, no. 5, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "May", copyright ©


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 115

May
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
It has been one month, sweet exiled one,
Since you left my sight,
And I have seen the lilacs bloom
With inconsolable grief.

Alone, I shun fresh air,
Whose ardent fragrance disquiets me,
For the horror of an exile doubles
At seeing the luster of nature's renewal.

In vain I listen at the windows,
In the room in which I have shut myself up,
As the first beetles of May
Collide against them with their clumsy shells.

In vain does the sun smile,
For I close my door against the spring,
And wish only that someone would bring me
A branch of blossoming lilac;

For Love, of which my heart is full,
in the middle of its grief, finds
Your gaze among these precious flowers,
And in their scent, your breath!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust

    Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:

    Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
    from the LiederNet Archive

    For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
    licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by François Coppée (1842 - 1908), "Mai", appears in Les Récits et les Élégies, in Élégies, in 3. Les mois, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1878
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2014-09-29
Line count: 20
Word count: 131

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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