Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Mes vers fuiraient, doux et frêles, Vers votre jardin si beau, Si mes vers avaient des ailes, [Des ailes comme]1 l'oiseau. Ils voleraient, étincelles, Vers votre foyer qui rit, Si mes vers avaient des ailes, [Des ailes comme]1 l'esprit. Près de vous, purs et fidèles, Ils accourraient, nuit et jour, Si mes vers avaient des ailes, [Des ailes comme]1 l'amour !
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• B. Godard • C. Griffes • R. Hahn • H. King • N. Reber • M. de Rothschild • A. WormserAbout the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Hahn: "Comme"
Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, written 1841, appears in Les Contemplations, in 2. Livre deuxiême -- L'âme en fleur, no. 2, first published 1856 [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 Akhilles Nikolayevich Alferaki (1846 - 1919), "Mes vers fuiraient, doux et frêles", op. 9 (Deux chansons de Victor Hugo) no. 2, published 1890 [ voice and piano ], Leipzig, Belaieff, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Henry Altès (1826 - 1895), "Mes vers fuiraient doux et frêles", op. 26 no. 6, published [1865?] [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from 15 Mélodies, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Simon Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léopold Amat (1814 - 1872), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", published [1862] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Max Arham (flourished 1911-1917), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", published <<1912 [ voice and piano ], from Seize mélodies, no. 36, Paris, Maurice Sénart, B. Roudanez et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz Behr (1837 - 1898), as Charles Godard, "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", subtitle: "Message" [ voice and piano ], Paris: J, Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Auguste Chapuis (1858 - 1933), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", published 1909 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éditions Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Mes vers fuiraient", op. 32 (Sept Mélodies) no. 2, published 1886 [ voice and piano ], St. Petersburg: W. Bessel & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "Message", op. 147 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 - 1920), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", A. 1 (1901) [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", 1888, published 1895 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Lucien Hillemacher (1860 - 1909) and by Paul Hillemacher (1852 - 1933), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes !" [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, vol. 2, no. 10, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Harold C. King (1895 - 1984), "Mes vers fuiraient", 1981, from Trois chansons d'amour et une épigramme, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Louis (Trouillon) Lacombe (1818 - 1884), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes !", published 1877-1878 [ medium voice and piano ], in Journal du Musique, no. 77 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcel Mihalovici (1898 - 1985), "Mes vers fuiraient", op. 25 no. 2 (1927), published 1932 [ voice and piano ], from Trois Romances de V. Hugo, no. 2, Éd. R. Deiss [sung text not yet checked]
- by Napoléon-Henri Reber (1807 - 1880), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", published 1863 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Richault [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Mathilde, Baroness Willy de Rothschild (1832 - 1924), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", subtitle: "Romance", published [1865] [ voice and piano ], Éd. G. Flaxland [sung text checked 1 time]
- by François Luc Joseph Thomé (1850 - 1909), as Francis Thomé, "Mes vers fuiraient", published 1910 [ reciter and piano ], from Trois Poésies de Victor Hugo, no. 2, Paris, Éditions Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Anselm Vinée (1847 - 1921), "Des Ailes !", op. 4 no. 6, published [1893] [ medium voice and piano ], from Sept Mélodies sur des vers de Victor Hugo, no. 6, Éd. Durdilly [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin (1821 - 1910), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by André Wormser (1851 - 1926), "Si mes vers avaient des ailes", published [1916] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Édition Marcel Lyon [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Akhilles Nikolayevich Alferaki.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright © 2016
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "Mis versos volarían dulces y frágiles", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 61
My verses would flee, sweet and fragile, To your garden so lovely, If my verses had wings, Wings as the bird has. They would fly, these sparks, To your laughing hearth, If my verses had wings, Wings as the spirit has. To you, pure and faithful, They would hurry, night and day, If my verses had wings, Wings as Love has!
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive -- https://www.lieder.net/For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, written 1841, appears in Les Contemplations, in 2. Livre deuxiême -- L'âme en fleur, no. 2, first published 1856
This text was added to the website: 2016-06-09
Line count: 12
Word count: 61