by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Translation Singable translation by Nita Cox
Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé
Language: French (Français)
Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé, Deux formes ont tout à l'heure passé. Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles, Et l'on entend à peine leurs paroles. Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé, Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé. — Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne ? — Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu'il m'en souvienne ? — Ton cœur bat-il toujours à mon seul nom ? Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve ? — Non. — Ah ! les beaux jours de bonheur indicible Où nous joignions nos bouches ! — C'est possible. — Qu'il était bleu, le ciel, et grand, l'espoir ! — L'espoir a fui, vaincu, vers le ciel noir. Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles, Et la nuit seule entendit leurs paroles.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 49-51.
Note: The ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Colloque sentimental", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 22, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1869 [author's text checked 2 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 Karl Baraquin (b. 1968), "Colloque sentimental", 1998, published 1998 [ vocal trio for soprano, baritone, and bass with piano ], Éditions musicales Regia [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maxime Belliard (1888 - 1986), "Colloque sentimental", [1923] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jeanne Bernard (1895 - 1965), "Colloque sentimental", 1933 [ voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes, no. 3, Paris, Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Bordes (1863 - 1909), "Colloque sentimental", 1884, published 1924 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Rouart, Lerolle [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Eugène Borrel (1876 - 1962), "Colloque sentimental", 1905 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugène Bozza (1905 - 1991), "Colloque sentimental", published 1936 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Costallat [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Canteloube (1879 - 1957), "Colloque sentimental", published 1925 [ voice and piano or string quartet ], Paris, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
- by René d'Avezac de Castéra (1873 - 1955), "Colloque sentimental", 1900, published 1902 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Mergault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gérard de Chambéret (1887 - 1941), "Colloque sentimental", 1917 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gérard Condé (b. 1947), "Colloque sentimental", 1973, published 2001 [ reciter and piano ], from Fêtes galantes, récitation accompagnée au piano, no. 2, Éd. Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Cuvillier (1877 - 1955), "Colloque sentimental", published 1904 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Énoch [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francisque Darcieux (1880 - 1951), "Colloque sentimental", published [1925] [ four-part chorus ], Paris, A. Fougeray [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre-Louis Darricau , "Colloque sentimental", [1937] [ soli, chorus, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Colloque sentimental", L. 114/(104) no. 3 (1904), published 1904 [ voice and piano ], from Fêtes Galantes II, no. 3, Paris, Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Edmond Diet (1854 - 1924), "Colloque sentimental", <<1912 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, R. et M. Lion [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Dulaurens (1873 - 1932), "Colloque sentimental" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Vittorio Fellegara , "Notturno", published 1971 [ soprano or mezzo-soprano, men's chorus, and orchestra ], Milan, Suvini-Zerboni [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Kimball Hadley (1871 - 1937), "Colloque sentimental", op. 82 no. 2, published c1923 [ voice and piano ], New York, Fischer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fernand-Gustave Halphen (1872 - 1917), "Colloque sentimental", published 1906 [ voice and piano ], from Dix mélodies, deuxième recueil, no. 3, Éd. Société Musicale G. Astruc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Nicole Marie Lachartre (1934 - 1991), "Colloque sentimental", published 1958 [ voice and piano ], Paris, N. Lachartre [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Lenormand (1846 - 1932), "Colloque sentimental", [1909] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henri-Édouard-Joseph Logé (1854 - 1912), "Colloque sentimental", published 1894 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry de Marliave , "Colloque sentimental" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Colin Matthews (b. 1946), "Colloque Sentimental", 1971-1978, published 1979, first performed 1978 [ baritone and piano ], from Un Colloque Sentimental, no. 1, London, Faber Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Colin Matthews (b. 1946), "Colloque Sentimental", 1971-1978, published 1979, first performed 1978 [ baritone and piano ], from Un Colloque Sentimental, no. 5, London, Faber Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Dans le vieux parc", first performed 2008 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Héctor Panizza (1875 - 1967), "Colloque sentimental", op. 24 no. 3 (1899) [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Neuf poésies de Paul Verlaine, no. 3, Milan, Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
- by Antonio Parera (1890 - ?), "Colloque sentimental", [1919] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henri Poirier , "Colloque sentimental", [1946] [ vocal duet ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Poirson , "Colloque sentimental", op. 1 no. 12, published [1907] [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons de poètes, no. 12, Paris, Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Guillaume de Sauville de la Presle (1888 - 1969), "Colloque sentimental", 1907 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Robert Przépiorski de Cay (b. 1884), "Colloque sentimental", 1926 [ reciter and piano ], Éd. Francis Salabert [sung text not yet checked]
- by Adrien Remacle (1849 - 1916), "Colloque sentimental", published [1907] [ voice and piano ], from Les fêtes galantes. Esquisses mélodiques sur les poèmes de Paul Verlaine, no. 6, Paris, Hachette [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Roger-Vasselin , "Colloque sentimental", published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, II, no. 3, Paris, Hayet [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre Salet (1875 - 1936), "Colloque sentimental", published 1921 [ high voice and piano ], from Fêtes galantes, no. 4, Paris Éd. B. Roudanez [sung text not yet checked]
- by Mark Simpson (b. 1988), "Colloque sentimental", first performed 2019 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a concert programme booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Erhard de Sivry, dit Louis de Sivry (1848 - 1900), "Colloque sentimental", published 1906 [ medium voice and piano ], in the revue Les Chansonniers de Montmartre, no. 10, October 25, 1906 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aimée Strohl (1865 - 1941), "Colloque sentimental", 1897 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Théodore Terestchenko (1888 - 1950), "Dans le vieux parc", published [1912] [ voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Catherine Urner (1891 - 1942), "Colloque sentimental", published 1928 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 4, Paris, Sénart ; also set in English as "The colloquy" [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by G. von Festenberg ; composed by Rudolf Mengelberg.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English [singable] (Peter Low) , "Sentimental dialogue", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Ernest Christopher Dowson) , no title, appears in Decorations, in After Paul Verlaine, no. 2
- ENG English [singable] (Nita Cox) , "The colloquy"
- GER German (Deutsch) (Pierre Mathé) , "Gefühlvolles Zwiegespräch", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Wehmütige Zwiesprache", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Colloquio sentimentale", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- JPN Japanese (日本語) (Naoyuki Okada) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Benjamin Oblitas Mollinedo) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 122
The colloquy
Language: English after the French (Français)
Within the dark and sombre wood, at last Two forms are listlessly wandering past: Lifeless their eyes: are they dead then, or dying? What are those words they breathe like chill winds sighing? Within the dark and sombre wood, at last, Two spectres are invoking the past. "Do you recall the days when we loved one another?" - That time means nothing more than any other. "Hearing me named your blood would faster run: Does even mem'ry wake no echoes?" -- None. "Ah! how we loved then, well knowing we should not; Would that those days had lasted!" -- They could not. "How blue it was, the heaven and Hope soared high!["] - Vanquished is Hope, and lost in the black sky... And thus they walked on the thorns of their sowing, Only the night their secret knowing.
From an old Debussy edition.
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by Nita Cox , "The colloquy" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Colloque sentimental", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 22, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1869
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
This text was added to the website: 2010-12-06
Line count: 16
Word count: 134