Three songs

Song Cycle by Bernard Wagenaar (1894 - 1971)

1. Calmes dans le demi‑jour [sung text not yet checked]

Language: French (Français)

Calmes dans le demi-jour
Que les branches hautes font,
Pénétrons bien notre amour
De ce silence profond.

[Fondons]¹ nos âmes, nos cœurs
Et nos sens extasiés,
Parmi les vagues langueurs
Des pins et des arbousiers.

Ferme tes yeux à demi,
Croise tes bras sur ton sein,
Et de ton cœur endormi
Chasse à jamais tout dessein.

Laissons-nous persuader
Au souffle berceur et doux,
Qui vient à tes pieds rider
Les ondes des gazons roux.

Et quand, solennel, le soir
Des chênes noirs tombera,
Voix de notre désespoir,
Le rossignol chantera.

Text Authorship:

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "En sourdine", written 1868, appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 21, first published 1868

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Anna Brull Piñol) , "Calms, dins el capvespre", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
CAT Catalan (Català) [singable] (Núria Colomer) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Muted", copyright ©
ENG English (Laura Claycomb) (Peter Grunberg) , "Muted", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Elaine Marie Ortiz-Arandes) (Julie Nezami-Tavi) , copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Gedämpften Tons", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GRE Greek (Ελληνικά) [singable] (Christakis Poumbouris) , "Απαλή αγάπη", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , "En voz baja", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 49-50. Note: first appeared in the journal L'Artiste, July 1, 1868, and then in 1869 in Fêtes galantes, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre.

Note: The ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".

¹ Fauré: "Mêlons"

Research team for this page: Didier Pelat , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

1. At dusk
(Sung text)

Language: English

Softly, with the fading light
Thru' the branches glimmering,
All of our rapture is surging,
Breaking the silence profound.

Blending our souls and our hearts,
And blending all ecstasies;
One with the languor of dreams
Of pines and arbutus trees.

Close now your eyes unto peace;
Cross now your arms unto rest;
Now let your heart have repose,
Banish forever desire.

Let us rest and yield ourselves
To breezes so gentle and sweet,
Which blow in a rhythmic mirth
Thro' grasses and heather.

And when somber night descends
Down from the deep oaks of gray,
Like the voice of our despair
The nightingale chants a song.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation by Robert A. Simon

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "En sourdine", written 1868, appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 21, first published 1868
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Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

2. May night
(Sung text)

Language: English

Over the garden shines the moon;
Thru' the trees there's a whisper'd sigh;
Lonely lies the spreading lane
In the quiet night.

Branches quiver in azure light;
High the tops of the trees are all drawn
To the long, long panorama
of loveliness there.

Still I dream thru' the passage of time,
While the moon gives benison;
Now the land so blessed by her,
Calmly sleeps, calmly sleeps and waits.

Text Authorship:

Singable translation by Robert A. Simon

Based on:

a text in Dutch (Nederlands) by Edward Bernard Koster (1861 - 1937) [text unavailable]
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Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

3. [sung text not yet checked]

Language: German (Deutsch)

Ich stand in [dunkeln]¹ Träumen
Und [starrte]² ihr Bildniß an,
Und das geliebte Antlitz
Heimlich zu leben begann.
 
Um ihre Lippen zog sich
Ein Lächeln wunderbar,
Und wie von Wehmuthsthränen
[Erglänzte]³ [ihr]⁴ Augenpaar.
 
Auch meine Thränen flossen
Mir von [den Wangen]⁵ herab -- 
Und ach, ich [kann es]⁶ nicht glauben,
Daß ich Dich verloren hab'!

Text Authorship:

by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, written 1823-24, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 23, first published 1826

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (Emma Lazarus) , appears in Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heine, first published 1881

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Buch der Lieder von H. Heine. Hamburg bei Hoffmann und Campe. 1827, page 201; and with Reisebilder von H. Heine. Erster Theil. Hamburg, bey Hoffmann und Campe. 1826, page 27.

¹ Mendel: "dunklen"
² Beach, Grieg, Schubert: "starrt'"
³ Hinrichs: "das"
⁴ Voss: "erglänzt"
⁵ Voss: "der Wang'"
⁶ Grieg, Hinrichs, Mendel, Schumann, Voss: "kann's"

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

3. I stood in dreams of darkness
(Sung text)

Language: English

I stood in dreams of darkness, 
And gazed at the likeness of her;
And that beloved vision
Gently began to stir;

Over her lips came creeping
A wonderful magic smile,
And as in sorrow breaking
Her eyes wept all the while.

And my tears too were flowing,
So that I could not see;
And oh! I cannot believe it,
That you are lost to me!

Text Authorship:

Singable translation by Robert A. Simon

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856), no title, written 1823-24, appears in Buch der Lieder, in Die Heimkehr, no. 23, first published 1826
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

Total word count: 392

Three songs

Song Cycle by Bernard Wagenaar (1894 - 1971)

1. Calmes dans le demi‑jour [sung text not yet checked]

1. At dusk (Sung text)

2. May night (Sung text)

3. [sung text not yet checked]

3. I stood in dreams of darkness (Sung text)

1. At dusk
(Sung text)

2. May night
(Sung text)

3. I stood in dreams of darkness
(Sung text)