by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translation Singable translation by Charles Fonteyn Manney (1872 - 1951)
S'il est un charmant gazon
Language: French (Français)
S'il est un charmant gazon Que le ciel arrose, Où [brille]1 en toute saison Quelque fleur éclose, Où l'on cueille à [pleine main]2 Lys, chèvrefeuille et jasmin, J'en veux faire le chemin Où ton pied se pose ! S'il est un sein bien aimant Dont l'honneur dispose ! Dont le ferme dévoûement N'ait rien de morose, Si toujours ce noble sein Bat pour un digne dessein, J'en veux faire le coussin Où ton front se pose ! S'il est un rêve d'amour, Parfumé de rose, Où l'on [trouve chaque jour]3 Quelque douce chose, Un rêve que Dieu bénit, Où l'âme à l'âme s'unit, Oh ! j'en veux faire le nid Où ton cœur se pose !
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• J. Arnoud • F. d'Erlanger • G. Fauré • C. Franck • F. Liszt • F. Liszt • C. Saint-Saëns • P. VidalF. Liszt sets stanzas 1, 3 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
F. Liszt sets stanzas 1, 3 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
F. d'Erlanger sets stanzas 1, 3
C. Widor sets stanzas 1, 3
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Poésies de Victor Hugo: Odes & Ballades, Les Orientales, Les Feuilles d'Automne, Les Chants du Crépuscule, Les Voix Intérieures, Les Rayons & Les Ombres, Paris, Hetzel, 1880, p. 67.
1 Fauré: "naisse"2 d'Erlanger: "pleines mains"
3 d'Erlanger: "trouve à chaque pas"
Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), title 1: "S'il est un charmant gazon", title 2: "Nouvelle chanson sur un vieil air", appears in Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 22, first published 1834 [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 Giulio Alary (1814 - 1891), "Le chemin, le coussin et le nid" [ medium voice and piano ], from 20 Mélodies, Vol. II, no. 9, Paris, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerk [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Henry Altès (1826 - 1895), "Nouvelle chanson", op. 26 no. 3, published [1865?] [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from 15 Mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Simon Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Baptiste Anthiome (d. 1895), "Nouvelle Chanson sur un vieil Air", published [1883] [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Henri Le Boulch [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jules Arnoud (1847 - 1890), "Nouvelle chanson" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Frédéric Binet (1862 - 1918), "S'il est un rêve d’amour !" [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Durand & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Diémer (1843 - 1919), "Chanson" [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by (François-Clément) Théodore Dubois (1837 - 1924), "Nouvelle chanson sur un vieil air", 1870-1880 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frédéric d'Erlanger, Baron, dit Regnal (1868 - 1943), "S'il est un charmant gazon", published 1895, stanzas 1,3 [ voice and piano ], from Album of Six Songs, no. 5, London: Willcocks & Co., also set in English [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Rêve d'amour", op. 5 no. 2 (1862?), first performed 1874 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by César Franck (1822 - 1890), "S'il est un charmant gazon", FWV. 78 (1847), rev. 1855-7 [ female voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jan Karol Gall (1856 - 1912), "Chanson d'Amour", op. 14 no. 1, published 1891 [ voice and piano ], Krakau, Krzyżanowski, also set in Polish (Polski) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "Autre chanson", op. 7 no. 5, published 1868 [ voice and piano ], from 12 morceaux pour chant et piano, 1re série, no. 5, Paris : G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lucien Hillemacher (1860 - 1909) and by Paul Hillemacher (1852 - 1933), "Chanson" [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, 1er volume, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Eugène Hutoy (1844 - 1889), "S'il est un charmant gazon", published 1885 [ high voice and piano ], Liège (Belgique), Veuve L. Muraille [sung text not yet checked]
- by Théodore Jadoul (b. 1848), "S'il est un charmant gazon" [ medium voice and piano ], from 10 Mélodies, no. 4, Éd. Veuve Léopold Muraille [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Ketten (1848 - 1883), "J'en veux faire le chemin", published [1878] [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Charles François Kreutzer (1817 - 1868), "Nouvelle Chanson" [ high voice and piano ], from 26 mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 10, Éd. Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Anatole Lionnet (1832 - 1896), "Rêve d'amour", published <<1888 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Édition Lemoine et Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "S'il est un charmant gazon", S. 284 no. 1 (1844), published 1844, stanzas 1,3 [ voice and piano ], Berlin, Schlesinger, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "S'il est un charmant gazon", S. 284 no. 2 (1849-59), published 1859, stanzas 1,3 [ tenor and piano ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Georges Eugène Marty (1860 - 1908), "Chanson", published [1886], first performed 1890 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 1, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Mathias (1826 - 1910), "Chanson de Victor Hugo", published 1888 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin (1862 - 1901), "Une vieille chanson ", published 1891 [ medium voice and piano ], The Boston Music Company, also set in English [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Pillaut (1833 - 1903), "Nouvelle chanson", <<1866 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marc de Ranse (1881 - 1951), "S'il est un charmant gazon" [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean Robert (1874 - 1943), "Chanson", 1892, published 1925 [ high voice and piano ], from Huit Mélodies, no. 5, Aire-sur-l'Adour (Landes), Éd. H. Labastie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexis Jean Hubert Rostand (1844 - 1919), "Chanson" [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel et Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel de Saint-Quentin (1846 - 1926), "S'il est un charmant gazon" [ medium voice and piano ], from Dix mélodies célèbres, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "S'il est un charmant gazon", 1915, published 1915 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Durand; second version; an undated MS possibly from 1870 exists with the title "Chanson", presumably the first version [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Paul Vidal (1863 - 1931), "S'il est un charmant gazon", published 1892 [ voice and piano ], from Dix mélodies, no. 4, Paris, A. Leduc [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anselm Vinée (1847 - 1921), "Nouvelle Chanson sur un vieil air", op. 4 no. 3, published [1893] [ voice and piano ], from Sept Mélodies sur des vers de Victor Hugo, no. 3, Éd. Durdilly [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Marie Jean Albert Widor (1844 - 1937), "S'il est un charmant gazon", op. 37 no. 2, stanzas 1,3 [ high voice and piano ], from Quarante mélodies, no. 14, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Francis Charles Philips (1849 - 1921) ; composed by Frédéric d'Erlanger, Baron, dit Regnal.
- Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin.
- 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.]
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) ; composed by Franz Liszt.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Peter Martin Cornelius Rübner.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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- Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Jan Karol Gall.
- 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.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Olga Platonovna Weiss (1865 - 1935) ; composed by Arseny Nikolayevich Koreshchenko.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Yen-Chiang Che) , "如果有一個迷人的草地", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "If there be a lovely grassy plot", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Charles Fonteyn Manney) , "If I knew a meadow fair", first published 1911
- ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Enrico Magnani) , "Sogno d'amore", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 112
If I knew a meadow fair
Language: English after the French (Français)
If I knew a meadow fair, Wet by pearly showers Where blossom all thro' the year Never-fading flowers, Where we cull from largess free Rose, jasmine, fleur-de-lys, There a path I'd make for thee Where thy feet should wander. Could there be a dream of love Perfumed by the roses, Where each day with joy inwove, Some new charm discloses; A dream by Heaven bless'd, Where soul to soul is express'd, Oh, there thy heart should make a nest Where my love reposes!
From a Liszt score.
Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by Charles Fonteyn Manney (1872 - 1951), "If I knew a meadow fair", first published 1911 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), title 1: "S'il est un charmant gazon", title 2: "Nouvelle chanson sur un vieil air", appears in Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 22, first published 1834
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: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2011-04-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 83