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.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

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.
  • Go to the text.
    
• 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.
  • Go to the text.
    

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