First Love | Do you remember that dear young girl

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 Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786 - 1859)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Le premier amour

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Vous souvient-il de cette jeune amie,
Au regard tendre, au maintien sage et doux ?
À peine, hélas ! Au printemps de sa vie,
Son cœur sentit qu'il était fait pour vous.

Point de serment, point de vaine promesse :
Si jeune encore, on ne les connaît pas ;
Son âme pure aimait avec ivresse
Et se livrait sans honte et sans combats.

Elle a perdu son idole chérie :
Bonheur si doux a duré moins qu'un jour !
Elle n'est plus au printemps de sa vie,
Elle est encore à son premier amour.

Appeared in Le Chansonnier des Grâces, 1815.

Text Authorship:

by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786 - 1859), "Le premier amour", written 1815, first published 1815 [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 Georges Auric (1899 - 1983), "Le premier amour", 1926, published 1927 [ voice and piano ], from Deux Romances, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Ferdinando Carulli (1770 - 1841), "Le premier Amour", published 1819, Paris, Chez Lélu et F. Louis [sung text not yet checked]
by Alphonse Fontvanne , "Le premier Amour", published 1819, Paris, Momigny [sung text not yet checked]
by Jean-Marie Hamonic (1898 - 1966), "Le Premier Amour", published 1963 [ medium voice and piano or harp ], from Sept Mélodies, no. 5, Toulouse, Centre d’art national français [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "First Love", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-02-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 88

First Love

Language: English after the French (Français)

Do you remember that dear young girl,
With tender gaze, with wise and gentle mien?
Barely, alas, in the springtime of her life,
Her heart sensed it had been made for you.

Without any vow, without any vain promise:
Still young enough not to know of these;
Her pure soul was intoxicated with love
And yielded itself up without shame or struggle.

She has lost her cherished idol:
Such sweet happiness lasted less than a day!
She's no longer in the springtime of her life,
But she is still in her first love.

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:

a text in French (Français) by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786 - 1859), "Le premier amour", written 1815, first published 1815
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 93