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Le voile du matin sur les monts se déploie ;
Vois, un rayon naissant blanchit la vieille tour ;
Et déjà dans les cieux s'unit avec amour,
Ainsi que la gloire à la joie,
Le premier chant des bois aux premiers feux du jour.
Oui, souris à l'éclat dont le ciel se décore !
Tu verras, si demain le cercueil me dévore,
Un soleil aussi beau luire à ton désespoir,
Et les mêmes oiseaux chanter la même aurore,
Sur mon tombeau muet et noir !
Mais dans l'autre horizon l'âme alors est ravie,
L'avenir sans fin s'ouvre à l'être illimité.
Au matin de l'éternité,
On se réveille de la vie,
Comme d'une nuit sombre ou d'un rêve agité !
Confirmed with Œuvres complètes de Victor Hugo, Poésie, Tome II, Paris: Vve Alexandre Houssiaux, 1864, Pages 27-28.
The text is preceded by the Latin epigraph Moriturus moriturae !Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Le Matin", written 1822, appears in Odes et Ballades, in 5. Odes, Livre Cinquième - 1819-1828, no. 8 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Daniel Fleuret (1869 - 1915), "Le Matin" [ high voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by E. de Froreich , "Le matin", published [1911] [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 6, Paris, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Guimet (1836 - 1918), "Le matin" [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons d'amour, no. 6, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerck [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Journeau (1898 - 1999), "Le matin", op. 5 no. 1 (1922) [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexandre René Calixte Lesire (1877 - 1960), "Le Matin" [ medium voice and piano ], Bruxelles, Éd. A. Louis [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Morning", 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: 2016-08-05
Line count: 15
Word count: 114
The veil of morning unfolds across the mountains.
See, a nascent ray whitens the old tower;
And already in the skies there lovingly joins,
As glory does with joy,
The first song of the woods with the first fires of the day.
Yes, smile at the radiance that adorns the sky!
You will see, if tomorrow the coffin swallows me up,
A sun just as beautiful shining on your despair,
And the same birds singing of the same dawn,
Over my black and silent grave!
But on the opposite horizon the soul then finds rapture.
The endless future opens up to the unlimited being.
In the morning of eternity
One wakes up from life,
As from a dark night or from a troubled dream.
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 Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Le Matin", written 1822, appears in Odes et Ballades, in 5. Odes, Livre Cinquième - 1819-1828, no. 8
This text was added to the website: 2025-10-07
Line count: 15
Word count: 124