Lamento
French source:
Théophile Gautier
Où flotte avec un son plaintif
L’ombre d’un if?
Sur l’if, une pâle colombe,
Triste et seule, au soleil couchant,
Chante son chant;
Un air maladivement tendre,
A la fois charmant et fatal,
Qui vous fait mal
Et qu’on voudrait toujours entendre,
Un air, comme en soupire aux cieux
L’ange amoureux.
Lament
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Where the shadow of a yew
Waves plaintively?
On that yew a pale dove,
Sad and solitary at sundown
Sings its song;
A melody of morbid sweetness,
Delightful and deathly at once,
Which wounds you
And which you’d like to hear forever,
A melody, such as in the heavens
A lovesick angel sighs
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
Lamento
French source:
Théophile Gautier
Lament
English source:
Richard Stokes
Connaissez-vous la blanche tombe
Do you know the white tomb,
Où flotte avec un son plaintif
Where the shadow of a yew
L’ombre d’un if?
Waves plaintively?
Sur l’if, une pâle colombe,
On that yew a pale dove,
Triste et seule, au soleil couchant,
Sad and solitary at sundown
Chante son chant;
Sings its song;
Un air maladivement tendre,
A melody of morbid sweetness,
A la fois charmant et fatal,
Delightful and deathly at once,
Qui vous fait mal
Which wounds you
Et qu’on voudrait toujours entendre,
And which you’d like to hear forever,
Un air, comme en soupire aux cieux
A melody, such as in the heavens
L’ange amoureux.
A lovesick angel sighs
Composer
Prince Edmond de Polignac
Prince Edmond Melchior Jean Marie de Polignac was a French aristocrat and composer. His grandmother had been a close friend of Marie Antoinette.
Poet
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While Gautier was an ardent defender of Romanticism, his work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many…