Songs

Élégie

by Henri Duparc

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Text & Translation

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Élégie
French source: Thomas Moore, trans. Mme Duparc

Oh ! ne murmurez pas son nom ! Qu'il dorme dans l'ombre,
Où froide et sans honneur repose sa dépouille.
Muettes, tristes, glacées, tombent nos larmes,
Comme la rosée de la nuit, qui sur sa tête humecte la gazon ;

Mais la rosée de la nuit, bien qu'elle pleure en silence,
Fera briller la verdure sur sa couche
Et nos larmes, en secret répandues,
Conserveront sa mémoire fraîche et verte dans nos cœurs.

Elegy
English translation © Richard Stokes

Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade.
Where cold and unhonoured his relics are laid:
Silent, sad and frozen be the tears that we shed,
As the night-dew that moistens the grass o'er his head;

But the night-dew, though in silence it weeps,
Shall make the grass green on the grave where he sleeps;
And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,
Shall long keep his memory green in our souls.

Élégie
French source: Thomas Moore, trans. Mme Duparc

Elegy
English source: Richard Stokes

Oh ! ne murmurez pas son nom ! Qu'il dorme dans l'ombre,
Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade.
Où froide et sans honneur repose sa dépouille.
Where cold and unhonoured his relics are laid:
Muettes, tristes, glacées, tombent nos larmes,
Silent, sad and frozen be the tears that we shed,
Comme la rosée de la nuit, qui sur sa tête humecte la gazon ;
As the night-dew that moistens the grass o'er his head;

Mais la rosée de la nuit, bien qu'elle pleure en silence,
But the night-dew, though in silence it weeps,
Fera briller la verdure sur sa couche
Shall make the grass green on the grave where he sleeps;
Et nos larmes, en secret répandues,
And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,
Conserveront sa mémoire fraîche et verte dans nos cœurs.
Shall long keep his memory green in our souls.

Composer

Henri Duparc

Eugène Marie Henri Fouques Duparc (21 January 1848 – 12 February 1933) was a French composer of the late Romantic period. Read more here.

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