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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.

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by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818 - 1894)
Translation © by Iain Sneddon

La Chute des étoiles
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Tombez, ô perles dénouées,
Pâles étoiles, dans la mer.
Un brouillard de roses nuées
Émerge de l'horizon clair ;
À l'Orient plein d'étincelles
Le vent joyeux bat de ses ailes
L'onde que brode un vif éclair.
Tombez, ô perles immortelles,
Pâles étoiles, dans la mer.

Plongez sous les écumes fraîches
De l'Océan mystérieux.
La lumière crible de flèches
Le faîte des monts radieux,
Mille et mille cris, par fusées,
Sortent des bois lourds de rosées ;
Une musique vole aux cieux.
Plongez, de larmes arrosées,
Dans l'Océan mystérieux.

Fuyez, astres mélancoliques,
Ô Paradis lointains encor !
L'aurore aux lèvres métalliques
Rit dans le ciel et prend l'essor ;
Elle se vêt de molles flammes,
Et sur l'émeraude des lames
Fait pétiller des gouttes d'or.
Fuyez, mondes où vont les âmes,
Ô Paradis lointains encor !

Allez, étoiles, aux nuits douces,
Aux cieux muets de l'Occident.
Sur les feuillages et les mousses
Le soleil darde un oeil ardent ;
Les cerfs, par bonds, dans les vallées,
Se baignent aux sources troublées,
Le bruit des hommes va grondant.
Allez, ô blanches exilées,
Aux cieux muets de l'Occident.

Heureux qui vous suit, clartés mornes,
Ô lampes qui versez l'oubli !
Comme vous, dans l'ombre sans bornes,
Heureux qui roule enseveli !
Celui-là vers la paix s'élance :
Haine, amour, larmes, violence,
Ce qui fut l'homme est aboli.
Donnez-nous l'éternel silence,
Ô lampes qui versez l'oubli !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Devéria 

C. Devéria sets stanzas 1, 3, 5
M. de Reiset sets stanzas 1-2, 4
de Souza-Meïral sets stanza 5

Text Authorship:

  • by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818 - 1894), "La Chute des étoiles ", appears in Poèmes barbares [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 Charlotte Devéria, née Thomas (1856 - 1885), "La Chute des étoiles", stanzas 1,3,5 [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, 3ème recueil, no. 11, Éd. "Au Ménestrel", Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "La Chute des étoiles", op. 93 (Zwei Chorlieder nach Ch.-M-R. Leconte de Lisle für fünfstimmigen Chor und Klavier) no. 2 (2002) [ chorus and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Marie Félicie Clémence de Reiset (1828 - 1907), as Vicomtesse de Grandval, "La Chute des étoiles", published [1880], stanzas 1-2,4 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. G. Hartmann [sung text not yet checked]
  • by ? de Souza-Meïral , "La Chute des étoiles", <<1904, stanza 5 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six Mélodies, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Laudy et Cie [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , "Falling Stars", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2016-01-16
Line count: 45
Word count: 223

Falling Stars
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Fall, like unravelling pearls,
Pale stars, into the sea.
A mist of pink cloud
Emerges from the clear horizon;
To the East, full of sparks
The joyful breeze beats its wings
A lacy wave gives a lightning flash. 
Fall,  immortal pearls,
Pale stars, in the sea.

Dive under the cool foam
Of the mysterious ocean.
The light pierced as with arrows
Makes the hilltops radiant,
Thousands of cries, by flares,
Come out of the woods heavy with dew;
A music flies to the heavens.
Dive, with dewy tears,
Into the mysterious ocean.

Escape, melancholy stars,
To Paradise, still distant! 
The dawn with metallic lips
Laughs in the sky and rises;
She dresses herself in soft flames,
And on the emerald of the waves
Makes drops of gold sparkle.
Flee, worlds where souls go,
To Paradise, still distant!

Go, stars of the soft nights,
To the silent skies of the West.
On foliage and mosses
The sun darts a fiery eye;
Deer, in leaps, in the valleys,
Bathe in rushing springs,
The sounds of man rumble.
Go, white exiles,
To the silent skies of the West.

Happy those who follow you, limpid and dreary,
Lamps that pour oblivion!
Like you, in boundless shadow,
Happy they who rest entombed!
This one rushes towards peace:
Hate, love, tears, violence,
That which is of man is abolished.
Give us eternal silence,
Lamps that pour oblivion!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Iain Sneddon, (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 Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818 - 1894), "La Chute des étoiles ", appears in Poèmes barbares
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2023-08-13
Line count: 45
Word count: 231

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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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