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La musique [parfois]1 me prend comme une mer ! Vers ma pâle étoile, Sous un plafond de brume ou dans un [pur]2 éther, Je mets à la voile ; La poitrine en avant et [gonflant mes poumons De toile pesante, Je monte et je descends sur le dos des grands monts D'eau retentissante ;]3 Je sens vibrer en moi toutes les passions D'un vaisseau qui souffre Le bon vent, la tempête et ses convulsions Sur l'immense gouffre Me [bercent, et parfois le calme, -- grand]4 miroir De mon désespoir !
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 174-175. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 158-159. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Spleen et Idéal, page 192. Punctuation follows 1857 edition. Note: this was number 76 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 69 or 71 in subsequent editions.
1 1857 edition, 1861 edition, E. Carter, and G. Charpentier: "souvent"2 1857 edition, 1861 edition, E. Carter, and G. Charpentier: "vaste"
3 1857 edition, 1861 edition, E. Carter, and G. Charpentier: "les poumons gonflés / Comme de la toile, / J'escalade le dos des flots amoncelés / Que la nuit me voile ;"
4 1857 edition, 1861 edition, E. Carter, and G. Charpentier: "bercent. D'autres fois, calme plat, grand"
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La Musique", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 69, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [author's text checked 4 times 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 Jean-Guy Bailly (1925 - 2009), "La musique", 1982 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michel Bosc (b. 1963), "La musique", op. 135 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. (1908 - 2012), "La musique" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gustave Charpentier (1860 - 1956), "La musique", 1894, published 1895 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poèmes chantés, no. 1, Éd. H. Tellier [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Lex van Delden (1919 - 1988), "La musique", op. 5 no. 1 (1939), published 2000, copyright © 1999 [ low voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Jongen (1873 - 1953), "La musique", op. 135 no. 2 (1948) [ medium voice and piano; or soprano, piano and string quartet ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gordon Kerry (b. 1961), "La musique", 1985 [ voice and piano ], from Obsessions, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "La musique", op. 72 (Deux mélodies) no. 1 (1975), published 1975 [ voice and piano ], Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Poirson , "La Musique", op. 1 no. 3, published [1907] [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons de poètes, no. 3, Éd. A.Z. Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by John Kinsella (b. 1963) , appears in Divine Comedy: Journeys through a Regional Geography, W. W. Norton & Co, first published 2008, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gordon Kerry.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Lev L'vovich Kobylinsky (1889 - 1947) , no title ; composed by Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Hudba"
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Music", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "La musica", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 89
Sovente la musica come il mare mi cattura! Verso un pallido astro, sotto una volta di bruma o nella vasta aria pura la mia vela io innalzo; Spingo il mio petto in avanti, gonfiando i miei polmoni come vela che si tende, e scalo il dorso di fitti cavalloni che la notte nasconde; E sento vibrare in me tutte le passioni d'una nave che soffre; Il vento propizio, la tempesta e le sue convulsioni Sopra l'abisso immenso sanno cullarmi. Altre volte bonaccia, calma piatta, vasto riflesso sono del mio tormento!
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2010 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La Musique", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 69, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
This text was added to the website: 2010-03-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 90