Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment ;
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie,
J'ai tout quitté pour l'ingrate Sylvie :
Elle me quitte, et prend un autre amant.
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment ;
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

Tant que cette eau coulera doucement
Vers [le]1 ruisseau qui borde la prairie,
Je t'aimerai, me répétoit Sylvie :
L'eau coule encore ; elle a changé pourtant,
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment ;
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

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Confirmed with Nouvelles de M. de Florian, third edition, Paris, P. Didot l'aîné, 1792, page 376. Note: the word "répétoit" can be modernized to "répétait" (stanza 2, line 3)

Note: the first two lines are quoted by Piachaud in his La chanson de l'indifférent.

¹ Martini: "ce"

Text Authorship:

• by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755 - 1794), "Plaisir d'amour", appears in Célestine [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 Giulio Alary (1814 - 1891), "Plaisir d'amour" [ medium voice and piano ], from 20 Mélodies, Vol. I, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerk [sung text not yet checked]
• by Fanny Hensel (1805 - 1847), "Romance de Célestine", H-U 8 (1820) [ high voice and piano ], from Frühe Französische Lieder, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Johann Paul-Egide Schwarzendorf (1741 - 1816), as Jean Martini, "Plaisir d'amour", also set in Italian (Italiano), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Johann Jakob Mnioch (1765 - 1804) , "An Chelonis", appears in Streit und Friede, in Lyrische Halmen [an adaptation] ; composed by Hans Georg Nägeli.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Liebesfreud, Liebesleid" ; composed by Johann Paul-Egide Schwarzendorf, as Jean Martini.
  • Go to the text.
    
• Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Johann Paul-Egide Schwarzendorf, as Jean Martini.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Barbara Miller) , "The pleasure of love", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Christine Füllemann , Rolf Rickenbacher

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 76