Comme la nuit est belle !

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

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.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Robert Southey (1774 - 1843)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

How beautiful is night!

Language: English

Our translations: FRE SPA

How beautiful is night!
A dewy freshness fills the silent air;
No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain
Breaks the serene of heaven:
In full-orbed glory yonder Moon divine
Rolls through the dark-blue depths.
Beneath her steady ray
The desert-circle spreads,
Like the round ocean, girdled [with]¹ the sky.
How beautiful is night!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Vardell: "by"

Text Authorship:

by Robert Southey (1774 - 1843), appears in Thalaba the Destroyer, first published 1800 [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 George Crumb (1929 - 2022), "Night" [ voice and piano ], from Three Early Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Muriel Emily Herbert (1897 - 1984), "How beautiful is night", 1918 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
by Charles Gildersleeve Vardell (1893 - 1962), "Nocturne" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-03-23
Line count: 10
Word count: 56

Comme la nuit est belle !

Language: French (Français) after the English

Comme la nuit est belle !
Une fraîcheur humide de rosée remplit l'air silencieux ;
Aucune brume sombre, aucun nuage, aucune tache, aucune impureté
Ne brise la sérénité du ciel :
Dans une glorieuse plénitude, là-haut la lune divine
Se meut à travers les profondeurs de l'azur.
Sous son rayon ferme
Le cercle désert s'étend,
Comme l'océan rond, entouré par le ciel.
Comme la nuit est belle !

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of title(s):
"How beautiful is night" = "Comme la nuit est belle !"
"Night" = "Nuit"

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2022 by Guy Laffaille, (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 English by Robert Southey (1774 - 1843), appears in Thalaba the Destroyer, first published 1800
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2022-02-24
Line count: 10
Word count: 64