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À la très-chère, à la très-belle Qui remplit mon cœur de clarté, À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle, Salut en immortalité ! Elle se répand dans ma vie Comme un air imprégné de sel, Et dans mon âme inassouvie Verse le goût de l'éternel. Sachet toujours frais qui parfume L'atmosphère d'un cher réduit, Encensoir oublié qui fume En secret à travers la nuit, Comment, amour incorruptible, T'exprimer avec vérité ? Grain de musc qui gis, invisible, Au fond de mon éternité ! À la [très-bonne]1, à la très-belle, Qui [fait ma joie et ma santé]2, À l'ange, à l'idole immortelle, Salut en immortalité !
G. Fauré sets stanzas 1, 2, 4, 5
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Épaves, Amsterdam: À l'enseigne du Coq, 1866, in Galanteries, pages 71-73. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 227-228. Punctuation follows first edition.
First published by À l'enseigne du Coq in Les Épaves, 1866; also appears under Spleen et Idéal as number 94 in the 1868 edition of Les Fleurs du mal.
1 Fauré: "très chère" (very dear)2 Fauré and Gretchaninov: "remplit mon cœur de clarté"
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Hymne", appears in Les Épaves, in 2. Galanteries, no. 10, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 94, Amsterdam, À l'enseigne du Coq, first published 1866 [author's text checked 3 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 Gérard Bertouille (1898 - 1981), "Hymne", 1939 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "Hymne ", published 2000 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre Chansons, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Hymne", op. 7 no. 2 (1870), published 1871, stanzas 1,2,4,5 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "Hymne", op. 48 no. 1, published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal, no. 1, Moscow: Gutheil, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Fernand Le Borne (1862 - 1929), "Hymne d'amour", op. 15 (Six Mélodies, 2ème série) no. 6 (1888) [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Éd. P. Schott [sung text not yet checked]
- by Xavier Henri Napoleon Leroux (1863 - 1919), "Hymne", published 1898 [ high voice and piano ], from Dix Mélodies, 2ème recueil, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Yves Malmasson (b. 1963), "Hymne", 1984, published 1999, orchestrated 1999 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Trois Mélodies sur des poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, no. 1, Lagny-sur-Marne, Éditions Musik-Fabrik [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Mertzig (1911 - 1986), "Hymne" [ bass and orchestra ], from Trois mélodies pour basse et orchestre, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Matthijs Vermeulen (1888 - 1967), "Hymne", 1962, from Trois chants d'amour, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques-Michel Zoubaloff (1876 - 1941), "Hymne" [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 15, Éd. Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Richard Joseph Howard (b. 1929) , copyright © ; composed by Bruce Christian Bennett.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Stefan George (1868 - 1933) , "Loblied", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Trübsinn und Vergeisterung, Berlin, Bondi, first published 1901 ; composed by Gerhard Frommel.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Shawn Thuris) , "Hymn", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 100
To the very dear one, the very lovely one, Who fills my heart with brightness, To the angel, the deathless idol, Forever hail! She pervades my life Like a salt-filled breeze, And into my unsatisfied soul Pours the taste of the eternal. Sachet ever-fresh that perfumes The air of a beloved recess, Forgotten censer that smokes In secret through the night. Incorruptible love, How to express the truth of you? Grain of musk, that lies unseen At the bottom of my eternity? To the very [good]1 one, the very lovely one, Who [makes me happy and healthy]2, To the angel, the deathless idol, Forever hail!
Translations of titles
"Hymne d'amour" = "Hymn of love"
"Hymne" = "Hymn"
2 Fauré: "fills my heart with brightness"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Shawn Thuris, (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 Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Hymne", appears in Les Épaves, in 2. Galanteries, no. 10, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 94, Amsterdam, À l'enseigne du Coq, first published 1866
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 105