Partons en barque sur la mer
Pour passer la nuit aux étoiles.
Vois, il souffle juste assez d'air
Pour [gonfler]1 la toile des voiles.

Le vieux pêcheur italien 
Et ses deux fils qui nous conduisent,
Écoutent, mais n'entendent rien
Aux mots que nos bouches se disent.

Sur la mer calme et sombre, vois : 
Nous [pouvons]2 échanger nos âmes,
Et nul ne comprendra nos voix
Que la nuit, le [ciel et les]3 lames.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Chausson: "enfler"
² Widor: "pourrons"
³ Widor: "ciel, les"

Text Authorship:

• by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Sérénade italienne", written 1875, appears in La vie inquiète, in 4. La vie inquiète, in Vers le Levant (later editions: "Souvenirs du Levant"), no. 8, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875 [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 Louis Brisset (1872 - 1939), "Sérénade italienne" [ baritone or mezzo-soprano and piano ], Éditions E. Demets [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "Sérénade italienne", op. 2 (Sept mélodies) no. 5, published 1883 [ voice and piano ], Paris, J. Hamelle [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Sérénade italienne", published 1921 [ high voice and piano ], from Poème d'une heure, poésies de Paul Bourget, no. 2, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Paray (1886 - 1979), "Nuit d'Italie", 1910 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Marie Jean Albert Widor (1844 - 1937), "Sérénade italienne", op. 75 no. 3, published 1902 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de Mer, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Vlašská serenáda", Prague, first published 1893
• ENG English (Peter Low) , "Italian serenade", copyright © 2000, (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: 12
Word count: 72