by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970)
Harmonie du soir
Language: French (Français)
Voici venir les temps où vibrant sur sa tige Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir ; Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir, — Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige ! — Chaque fleur s'évapore ainsi qu'un encensoir ; Le violon frémit comme un cœur qu'on afflige ; — Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige ! — Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir. Le violon frémit comme un cœur qu'on afflige, Un cœur tendre, qui hait le néant vaste et noir ! — Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir ; Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige. Un cœur tendre qui hait le néant vaste et noir Du passé lumineux recueille tout vestige ; — Le soleil s'est noyé dans son sang qui se fige ; Ton souvenir en moi luit comme un ostensoir !
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 101-102. Note: this was number 43 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but 47 or 48 in subsequent editions.
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Harmonie du soir", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 47, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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 Alfredo Amadei , "Harmonie du soir", copyright © 1914 [ voice and piano ], from Six Mélodies, Chant et piano, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Louis Rouhier (A.2.A.) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jan van Amerongen (b. 1938), "Harmonie du soir", 1998, published 1999 [ alto and piano ], from Vier liederen, no. 4, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hendrik Andriessen (1892 - 1981), "Harmonie du soir", 1917, published c1917 [ medium voice and piano ], Amsterdam, Édition G. Alsbach & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Guy Bailly (1925 - 2009), "Harmonie du soir", 1982 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gérard Bertouille (1898 - 1981), "Harmonie du soir", 1940 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Trois poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marguerite Bonnet , "Harmonie du Soir", published 1942 [ high voice and piano ], from Cinq Mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Édition Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "Harmonie du soir", op. 11 no. 2, published 2001, first performed 2001 [ soprano and piano ], from Trois chansons de Charles Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre (Onfroy) de Bréville (1861 - 1949), "Harmonie du soir", 1879, published 1913, first performed 1893 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Rouart Lerolle & Cie (Salabert) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Harmonie du soir", L. 70/(64) no. 2 (1887-9), published 1890 [ voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gaston Doin (1878 - 1962), "Harmonie du soir", published 1950 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies romantiques, no. 7, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Duboscq (1897 - 1938), "Harmonie du soir", 1918, published 1918 [ high voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes de C. Baudelaire, no. 2, Éd. E. Demets [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léo Ferré (1916 - 1993), "Harmonie du soir", published 1957 [ voice and piano ], Éd. S.E.M.I. Méridian [sung text not yet checked]
- by Daniel Fleuret (1869 - 1915), "Harmonie du soir" [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "Harmonie du soir", op. 48 no. 4, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal, no. 4, Moscow: Gutheil, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Alexandre) Charles Lecocq (1832 - 1918), "Harmonie du soir " [ medium voice, piano, violin ], Édition Eroïca [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861 - 1935), "Harmonie du soir" [ voice, viola, and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Harmonie du soir ", 2004/6, published 2008 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 3, Schott [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Harmonie du soir" [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies choisies, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Bernard Rands (b. 1934), "Harmonie du soir", from Canti del sole, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "Harmonie du soir" [ voice and piano ], from Six nouvelles poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 2, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel de Saint-Quentin (1846 - 1926), "Harmonie du soir" [ medium voice and piano ], from Dix mélodies célèbres, no. 10, Paris, Éd. Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Schopfer (1867 - 1926), as Robert Alger, "Harmonie du soir", 1925, published 1926 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Ricordi (R. 938) [sung text not yet checked]
- by V. S. Sevadjian , "Harmonie du soir", published [1930] [ high voice and piano ], Édition J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jósef-Zygmunt Szulc (1875 - 1956), "Harmonie du soir", published 1923 [ high voice and piano ], from Sept mélodies, recueil 2, no. 7, Paris, Édition Francis Salabert [sung text not yet checked]
- by Judith Lang Zaimont , "Harmonie du soir", 1974, first performed 1975 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons nobles et sentimentales, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anton Englert , "Harmonie des Abends", first published 1904 ; composed by Alexander Zemlinsky.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , no title ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Harmonie večera"
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Evening harmony", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Evening Harmony", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Árpád Tóth) , "Esti harmónia", written 1920
- POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "Harmonia wieczoru", Kraków, first published 1911
- ROM Romanian (Română) (Alexandru I. Philippide) , "Armonie în amurg"
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Victor Torres) , "Armonía del atadecer", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this text: 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: 147
Evening Harmony
Language: English after the French (Français)
The hour approacheth, when, as their stems incline, The flowers evaporate like an incense urn, And sounds and scents in the vesper breezes turn; A melancholy waltz—and a drowsiness divine. The flowers evaporate like an incense urn, The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine. A melancholy waltz—and a drowsiness divine, The skies like a mosque are beautiful and stern. The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine; Sweet souls that shrink from chaos vast and etern, The skies like a mosque are beautiful and stern, The sunset drowns within its blood-red brine. Sweet souls that shrink from chaos vast and etern, Essay the wreaths of their faded Past to entwine, The sunset drowns within its blood-red brine, Thy thought within me glows like an incense urn.
Confirmed with Cyril Scott, The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909, page 33.
Authorship:
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Evening Harmony", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Harmonie du soir", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 47, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
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 text: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-08-23
Line count: 16
Word count: 131