Le sublime est un départ
Language: French (Français)
Chosen for Diff
Le sublime est un départ.
Quelque chose de nous qui au lieu
de nous suivre, prend son écart
et s'habitue aux cieux.
La rencontre extrême de l'art
n'est-ce point l'adieu le plus doux ?
Et la musique : ce dernier regard
que nous jetons nous-mêmes vers nous !
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• N. Goossens About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 176.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gordon Ware Binkerd (1916 - 2003), "Le sublime est un départ", 1972 [ mezzo-soprano, violin and violoncello ], from Portrait intérieur, no. 1, New York : Boosey & Hawkes [sung text not yet checked]
- by Natalie Goossens (b. 1976), "Le sublime est un départ", 2020 [ mixed chorus ], from Cinq chansons d’espoir, no. 5, Euprint [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Harold Charles King (1895 - 1984), "Vergers XXXIII", 1983, from O Leben, Leben, wunderliche Zeit, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Giacomo Manzoni (b. 1932), "Le sublime est un départ", 2006, copyright © 2006 [ chorus ], from Vergers, no. 1, Roma [etc.] : Rai Trade [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , 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: 2008-09-05
Line count: 8
Word count: 45
The sublime is a departure
Language: English after the French (Français)
Chosen for Diff
The sublime is a departure.
Something in us that instead
of following us, takes its own path
and accustoms itself to the heavens.
The extreme encounter with art:
isn't it the sweetest farewell of all?
And music: that last glance
that we ourselves cast towards ourselves.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Le sublime est un départ" = "The sublime is a departure"
"Vergers XXXIII" = "Orchards XXXIII"
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:
This text was added to the website: 2025-08-11
Line count: 8
Word count: 46
