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Quand tu chantes, bercée
Le soir entre mes bras,
Entends-tu ma pensée
Qui te répond tout bas ?
Ton doux chant me rappelle
Les plus beaux de mes jours...
Chantez, ma belle !
Chantez toujours !
Quand tu ris, sur ta bouche
L'amour s'épanouit,
[Et le soupçon farouche
Soudain s'évanouit !]1
Ah ! le rire fidèle
Prouve un cœur sans détours ! ... --
Riez, ma belle !
Riez toujours!
Quand tu dors, calme et pure,
Dans l'ombre, sous mes yeux,
Ton haleine murmure
Des mots harmonieux.
Ton beau corps se révèle
Sans voile et sans atours... --
Dormez, ma belle,
Dormez toujours !
Quand tu me dis: Je t'aime !
Ô ma beauté ! je croi !
Je crois que le ciel même
S'ouvre au-dessus de moi !
Ton regard étincelle
Du beau feu des amours... --
Aimez, ma belle,
Aimez toujours !
Vois-tu ? toute la vie
Tient dans ces quatre mots,
Tous les biens qu'on envie,
Tous les biens sans les maux !
Tout ce qui peut séduire
Tout ce qui peut charmer... --
Chanter et rire,
Dormir, aimer !
C. Gounod sets stanzas 1-3
F. Liszt sets stanzas 1, 4
H. Kjerulf sets stanza 3 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
J. Weckerlin sets stanzas 4-5
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Victor Hugo, Marie Tudor. La Esmerelda, Paris: J. Hetzel, 1833, Journée I, Scène v, pages 27-28; and with Œuvres de Victor Hugo, Volume 1, Bruxelles, J. P. Meline, 1836, pages 735-736. Before the first stanza, the stage directions say "On entend une guitare et une voix éloignée qui chante:", and after the first stanza the character L'homme says "C'est mon homme." (this is not part of any song setting). After that, the voice (La Voix) continues with the stage direction "Elle s'approche à chaque couplet." and the rest of the song follows.
1 Gounod: "Et soudain le farouche / Soupçon s'évanouit.Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, appears in Marie Tudor, Paris: J. Hetzel; Journée 1, Scene 5, first published 1833 [author's text checked 2 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 Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Sérénade", CG 437 (1855-7), published 1857, stanzas 1-3 [ voice, piano, and harmonium or violoncello ad libitum ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gustave Héquet (1803 - 1865), "Ballade de Marie Tudor" [ high voice, oboe, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Halfdan Kjerulf (1815 - 1868), "Quand tu dors", 1848-68, published [1868], stanza 3 [ tenor and TTBB chorus a cappella ], from Album for Mandssang, no. 7, Kristiana (Oslo): Carl Warmuth [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Halfdan Kjerulf (1815 - 1868), "Quand tu dors", op. 9 (Six romances françaises) no. 1 (1861) [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Leopold Lenz (1803 - 1862), "Quand tu chantes, bercée le soir entre mes bras", subtitle: "Serenade aus: 'Marie Tudor'", op. 22 (Drei Gesänge) no. 1, published 183-? [ voice, piano, and horn or violoncello ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "Quand tu chantes, bercée", S. 306a (1842), stanzas 1,4 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin (1821 - 1910), "Sérénade dans Marie Tudor", stanzas 4-5 [ medium voice and piano ], from 25 Mélodies de J.B. Weckerlin, no. 18, Éd. Durand & Schoenewerck [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Charles Gounod.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Vladimir Dmitrievich Kashkin.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov.
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Isidor Dannström.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , no title, copyright © 2000-2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POL Polish (Polski) (Felicjan Faleński) , "Śpiew przy gitarze", subtitle: "Z Wiktora Hugo"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 164
When you sing in the evening cradled in my arms, can you hear my thoughts softly answering you? Your sweet song recalls to me the happiest days I've known. Sing, sing, my pretty one, sing on forever! When you laugh, love blossoms on your lips, [and at once cruel suspicion vanishes.]1 Ah, faithful laughter shows a heart without guile. Laugh, laugh, my pretty one, laugh on forever! When you sleep calm and pure beneath my gaze, in the shadow, your breathing murmurs harmonious words. Your lovely body is revealed without veil or finery. Sleep, sleep, my pretty one, sleep on forever! When you say 'I love you', oh my beauty, I believe! I think that heaven itself is opening above me! Your eyes sparkle with love's beautiful fire... Love,love, my pretty one, love on forever! Do you see? All of life is held in these four verbs, all the good things people wish for, all the good without the bad! Everything that can delight, everything that can charm... To sing, to laugh, to sleep, to love!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Translation of title "Sérénade" = "Serenade"
Note: the stage directions before the first stanza translate as "A guitar is heard and a voice in the distance singing"; the character L'homme says "That is my man"; and then La Voix continues with stage directions that translate to "(The voice comes closer with every stanza)".
1 Translator's note: Gounod has "Et soudain le farouche Soupçon s'évanouit!". This change in word-order, made for rhythmic reasons, does not alter the sense.Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000-2019 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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, appears in Marie Tudor, Paris: J. Hetzel; Journée 1, Scene 5, first published 1833
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 176