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Dans le golfe aux jardins ombreux, Des couples blonds d'amants heureux Ont fleuri les mâts langoureux De ta galère, Et, caressé de doux été, Notre beau navire enchanté, Vers des pays de volupté : Fend l'onde claire ! [Viens]1, nous sommes les souverains Des lumineux déserts marins, Sur les flots ravis et sereins Berçons nos rêves ! Tes pâles mains ont le pouvoir D'embaumer au loin l'air du soir, Et, dans tes yeux, je crois revoir, Le ciel des grèves ! Mais là-bas au soleil, Surgit le cher pays vermeil D'où s'élève un chant de réveil Et d'allégresse ; C'est l'île heureuse aux cieux légers Où, parmi les lys étrangers, Je dormirai, dans les vergers Sous ta caresse !
1 Chabrier: "Vois"
Text Authorship:
- by Georges-Ephraïm Michel (1866 - 1890), as Éphraïm Mikhaël, "L'île heureuse", written 1890, appears in Œuvres: Poésie, poèmes en prose, in Poésie, no. 32, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1890 [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 Emmanuel Chabrier (1841 - 1894), "L'île heureuse", 1892? [ baritone or mezzo-soprano and piano or orchestra ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Raoul Gradis (1861 - 1943), "L'Île heureuse" [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fernand-Gustave Halphen (1872 - 1917), "L'Île heureuse", 1900, published 2014 [ high voice and piano ], from Dix Mélodies, premier recueil, no. 10b, Éd. de l'IEMJ ; uses the same music as 'Pour Cythère' (number 10 in the second collection of ten songs), also set in French (Français) [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The Happy Isle", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Massimo Bandinelli) , "L'isola felice", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 114
Along the bay [lined] with shady gardens, The happy, loving fair-haired couples Have decorated the languishing masts Of your galley, And, caressed by sweet summer, Our beautiful enchanted ship, Towards voluptuous countries: Cuts cleanly through the wave! See, we are the sovereigns Of the luminous emptiness of the ocean. On the serene and delightful waves, Let us rock away our dreams! Your pale hands have the power To perfume the far off evening air, And, in your eyes, I believe I can see again, The sky of the shores! But out there, under the sun, Emerges the precious rosy land From which rises a song of waking And of cheerfulness; This is the happy isle of clear skies Where, among the strange lilies, I’ll sleep, in the orchards Beneath your caress!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 by Laura Prichard, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Georges-Ephraïm Michel (1866 - 1890), as Éphraïm Mikhaël, "L'île heureuse", written 1890, appears in Œuvres: Poésie, poèmes en prose, in Poésie, no. 32, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1890
This text was added to the website: 2015-12-26
Line count: 24
Word count: 131