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The song of Eve
Song Cycle by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
View original-language texts alone: La Chanson d'Ève
1. Paradis
Language: French (Français)
C'est le premier matin du monde,
Comme une fleur confuse exhalée de la nuit,
Au souffle nouveau qui se lève des ondes,
Un jardin bleu s'épanouit.
Tout s'y confond encore et tout s'y mêle,
Frissons de feuilles, chants d'oiseaux,
Glissements d'ailes,
Sources qui sourdent, voix des airs, voix des eaux,
Murmure immense,
Et qui pourtant est du silence.
Ouvrant à la clarté ses doux et vagues yeux,
La jeune et divine Eve
S'est éveillée de Dieu,
Et le monde à ses pieds s'étends comme un beau rêve.
Or, Dieu lui dit: "Va, fille humaine,
Et donne à tous les êtres
Que j'ai créés, une parole de tes lèvres,
Un son pour les connaître".
Et Eve s'en alla, docile à son seigneur,
En son bosquet de roses,
Donnant à toutes choses
Une parole, un son de ses lèvres de fleur:
Chose qui fuit, chose qui souffle, chose que vole...
Cependant le jour passe, et vague, comme à l'aube,
Au crépuscule, peu à peu,
L'Eden s'endort et se dérobe
Dans le silence d'un songe bleu.
La voix s'est tue, mais tout l'écoute encore,
Tout demeure en l'attente,
Lorsqu'avec le lever de l'étoile du soir,
Eve chante.
...
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 1, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
1.
Language: English
It is the world's first morning.
Like a misty flower exhaled by the night
on the new breath rising from the waters
a blue garden opens out.
Everything is still mingled and mixed:
leaves rustling, birds singing,
wings fluttering,
gushing streams, voices of air, voices of water -
an immense murmuring,
yet all composed of silence.
Opening her soft vague eyes to the light,
the divine young Eve
has awoken out of God,
and the world spreads at her feet like a beautiful dream.
And God said to her: "Go, human child,
and give to all the beings I've created
a word from your lips,
a sound to know them by."
And Eve, obedient to her lord,
went out into her thicket of roses,
and gave to all things
a word, a sound from her flowerlike lips -
scurrying things, breathing things, flying things...
Meanwhile the day passes, and the Garden,
hazy at dusk as at dawn,
falls asleep and slips away
into the silence of a blue dream.
The voice has stopped, but everything listens for it,
everything remains expectant,
until at the rising of the moon
Eve sings.
[ ... ]
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 1, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
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Translation of title Paradis = "Paradise"
Translator's note for stanza 1, line 4, words 2 and 3: "blue garden". "Jardin bleu" - "bleu" suggests something wondrous, fabulous, ideal.
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 41
Word count: 189
Translation © by Peter Low
2. Prima verba
Language: French (Français)
Comme elle chante Dans ma voix, L'âme longtemps murmurante Des fontaines et des bois ! Air limpide du paradis, Avec tes grappes de rubis, Avec tes gerbes de lumière, Avec tes roses et tes fruits ; Quelle merveille en nous à cette heure ! Des paroles depuis des âges endormies En des sons, en des fleurs. Sur mes lèvres enfin prennent vie. Depuis que mon souffle a dit leur chanson, Depuis que ma voix les a créés, Quel silence heureux et profond Naît de leurs âmes allégées !
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 6, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
2. First words
Language: English
In my voice there sings - and how it sings! - the long-murmuring soul of the streams and woods! Oh limpid air of paradise, with your clusters of rubies, your sheaves of light, your roses and your fruits, what a miracle is happening in us at this moment! Words that for eons were sleeping are now at last coming to life in sounds, in flowers on my lips. Now that my breath has uttered their song, now that my voice has created them, what a deep blissful silence is born from their lightened souls!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 6, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 92
Translation © by Peter Low
3. Roses ardentes
Language: French (Français)
Roses ardentes Dans l'immobile nuit, C'est en vous que je chante Et que je suis. En vous, étincelles, À la cime des bois, Que je suis éternelle Et que je vois. Ô mer profonde, C'est en toi que mon sang Renaît vague blonde, En flot dansant. Et c'est en toi, force suprême, Soleil radieux, Que mon âme elle-même Atteint son dieu !
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 5, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
3. Fiery roses
Language: English
Fiery roses in the still night, in you I am singing, in you I exist. Sparks at the tips of the forest, in you I am eternal, in you I can see. Deep ocean, in you my blood is reborn as a white-capped wave, as a dancing tide. And in you, supreme force, radiant sun, my very soul reaches its God!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 5, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles"Roses ardentes dans l'immobile nuit" = "Fiery roses in the still night"
"Roses ardentes" = "Fiery roses"
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 61
Translation © by Peter Low
4. Comme Dieu rayonne
Language: French (Français)
Comme Dieu rayonne aujourd'hui, Comme il exulte, comme il fleurit Parmi ces roses et ces fruits! Comme il murmure en cette fontaine! Ah! comme il chante en ces oiseaux... Qu'elle est suave son haleine Dans l'odorant printemps nouveau! Comme il se baigne dans la lumière Avec amour, mon jeune dieu! Toutes les choses de la terre Sont ses vêtements radieux.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
4. How radiant God is
Language: English
How radiant God is today, how he exults, how he blossoms, in these flowers and fruits! How he murmurs in this stream! Ah, how he sings in these birds... How sweet his breath is in the fragrant new springtime! How he bathes in the light with Eros, my young god! All things on Earth are his radiant garments!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 11
Word count: 58
Translation © by Peter Low
5. L'aube blanche
Language: French (Français)
L'aube blanche dit à mon rêve:
"Éveille-toi, le soleil luit".
Mon âme écoute et je soulève
Un peu mes paupières vers lui.
Un rayon de lumière touche
La pâle fleur de mes yeux bleus;
Une flamme éveille ma bouche,
Un souffle éveille mes cheveux.
Et mon âme, comme une rose
Tremblante, lente, tout le jour,
S'éveille à la beauté des choses,
Comme mon âme à leur amour.
...
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 14, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
5. The white dawn
Language: English
The white dawn says to my dream: "Wake up, the sun is shining." My soul listens and I raise my eyelids slightly towards it. A ray of light touches the pale flower of my blue eyes. A flame awakens my mouth, a breeze awakens my hair. And my soul, like a rose, trembling slowly all day through, wakes to the beauty of things, as my soul wakes to their love.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 14, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 71
Translation © by Peter Low
6. Eau vivante
Language: French (Français)
Que tu es simple et claire,
Eau vivante,
Qui, du sein de la terre,
Jaillis en ces bassins et chantes!
Ô fontaine divine et pure,
Les plantes aspirent
Ta liquide clarté
La biche et la colombe en toi se désaltèrent.
Et tu descends par des pentes douces
De fleurs et de mousses,
Vers l'océan originel,
Toi qui passes et vas, sans cesse, et jamais lasse
De la terre à la mer et de la mer au ciel.
...
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 20, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
6. Living water
Language: English
How simple and clear you are, living water, as out of the earth you well up in these pools and sing! Oh pure divine spring, the plants draw in your liquid brightness, in you the hind and the dove slake their thirst. And you flow down over gentle slopes of flowers and mosses towards the primeval ocean; you pass on unceasing and untiring from land to sea and from sea to sky.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 20, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 73
Translation © by Peter Low
7. Veilles‑tu, ma senteur de soleil
Language: French (Français)
Veilles-tu, ma senteur de soleil, Mon arôme d'abeilles blondes, Flottes-tu sur le monde, Mon doux parfum de miel? La nuit, lorsque mes pas Dans le silence rôdent, M'annonces-tu, senteur de mes lilas, Et de mes roses chaudes? Suis-je comme une grappe de fruits Cachés dans les feuilles, Et que rien ne décèle, Mais qu'on odore dans la nuit? Sait-il à cette heure, Que j'entr'ouvre ma chevelure, Et qu'elle respire? Le sent-il sur la terre? Sent-il que j'étends les bras Et que des lys de mes vallées, Ma voix qu'il n'entend pas Est embaumée?
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1904, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 2. La Tentation, no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
7. Are you awake?
Language: English
Are you awake, sun-smell of my body, my scent of blond bees? Are you wafting on the world, my sweet perfume of honey? At night when my footsteps roam in the silence, do you announce my presence, fragrance of my lilacs and warm roses? Am I like a bunch of fruit hidden in the leaves which nothing makes visible but which can be smelt at night? Does he know at this moment that I'm loosening my hair and that it breathes; can he smell it on the ground? Can he sense that I'm reaching out my arms and that my voice which he does not hear is perfumed with the lilies of my valleys?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1904, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 2. La Tentation, no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 114
Translation © by Peter Low
8. Dans un parfum de roses blanches
Language: French (Français)
Dans un parfum de roses blanches, elle est assise et songe; et l'ombre est belle comme s'il s'y mirait un ange... L'ombre descend, le bosquet dort; Entre les feuilles et les branches, Sur le paradis bleu s'ouvre un paradis d'or; Une voix qui chantait, tout à l'heure, murmure... Un murmure s'exhale en haleine et s'éteint. Dans le silence il tombe des pétales...
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 27, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
8. In a perfume of white roses
Language: English
In a perfume of white roses Eve sits and dreams; and the shade is as beautiful as if an angel were reflected in it. The shadow falls, the thicket sleeps; on the blue paradise, among the leaves and branches, a golden paradise opens. [On the shore a last distant wave is dying] A voice murmurs which just now was singing... A murmur breathes out and dies away. In the silence petals fall...
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 27, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 72
Translation © by Peter Low
9. Crépuscule
Language: French (Français)
Ce soir, à travers le bonheur, Qui donc soupire, qu'est-ce qui pleure ? Qu'est-ce qui vient palpiter sur mon cœur, Comme un oiseau blessé ? Est-ce une voix future, Une voix du passé ? J'écoute, jusqu'à la souffrance, Ce son dans le silence. Île d'oubli, ô Paradis ! Quel cri déchire, dans la nuit, Ta voix qui me berce ? Quel cri traverse Ta ceinture de fleurs, Et ton beau voile d'allégresse ?
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 4. Crépuscule, no. 2, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
See other settings of this text.
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
9. Twilight
Language: English
Who is it, what is it, this evening that pierces through happiness with sighs and weeping? What is this thing quivering on my heart like a wounded bird? [Is it a groan of the earth?] Is it a voice of the future, of the past? I listen, until it hurts, to this sound in the silence. Oh Paradise, isle of forgetfulness, what cry tonight is rending your voice which lulls me? What cry is cutting through your girdle of flowers and your beautiful veil of joy?
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 4. Crépuscule, no. 2, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 86
Translation © by Peter Low
10. Ô mort, poussière d'étoiles
Language: French (Français)
Ô mort, poussière d'étoiles, Lève-toi sous mes pas ! Viens, ô douce vague qui brilles Dans les ténèbres ; Emporte-moi dans ton néant ! Viens, souffle sombre où je vacille, Comme une flamme ivre de vent ! C'est en toi que je veux m'étendre, M'éteindre et me dissoudre, Mort où mon âme aspire ! Viens, brise-moi comme une fleur d'écume, Une fleur de soleil à la cime Des eaux, Et comme d'une amphore d'or Un vin de flamme et d'arome divin, Épanche mon âme En ton abîme, pour qu'elle embaume La terre sombre et le souffle des morts.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 4. Crépuscule, no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)
10. Oh Death, dust of stars
Language: English
Oh Death, dust of stars, rise up under my footsteps! Come, gentle wave shining in the dark, carry me off into your nothingness! Come, sombre breeze in which I sway, come like a flame intoxicated with wind! In you I want to stretch out, fade and dissolve, oh death, my soul's aspiration! [strong god whom my soul awaits with songs and laughter of love] Come, break me like a flower of foam, a sun-bloom on the crest of the waves! [a flower plucked by the night, obscured by shadow and scattered by space] And like a wine of fire and divine scent flowing from a golden amphora, pour out my soul into your abyss, so that it may perfume the dark earth and the breath of the dead.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 4. Crépuscule, no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 22
Word count: 128
Translation © by Peter Low