Clair de lune
(Moonlight)
Text by Paul by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Set by Gustave by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956); Charpentier (1860-1956); Claude Debussy (1862-1918), from Fêtes Galantes I , I , #2; Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921); Diepenbrock (1862-1921); Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), op. 46, # 2; Jósef Szulc (1875-1956), from Dix from Dix mélodies sur des poésies de Verlaine , op. 83
Votre
âme
est
un
Your soul is a (Your soul is a chosen landscape)
Que
vont
charmants
paysage
choisi
landscape
chosen
masques
which go charmed-by masques (charmed by masques and bergamasques,)
et
bergamasques,
and
bergamasques,
Jouant
du
luth
et
dansant,
et
quasi
playing
on-the
lute
and
dancing
and
almost
Tristes
sous
leurs
déguisements
fantasques.
sad beneath their disguises (sad beneath their fanciful disguises.)
Tout
en
chantant
While in singing (While singing in a minor mode,)
L'amour
vainqueur
et
sur
le
mode
mineur
in
a
mode
minor,
la
of-love conqueror and the (of love the conqueror and of favorable life,)
Ils
n'ont
pas
l'air
fanciful.
de
vie
opportune,
life
favorable,
croire
they do-not-have then the-air of belief (they do not seem to believe in their happiness)
Et
leur
chanson
se
mêle
à
leur
bonheur
in
their
happiness
au
and their song it mingles with-the (and their song mingles with the light of the moon,)
Clair de lune (Verlaine) Page 1 of 2
clair
de
lune,
light
of-the
moon,
Au
calme
clair
de
With-the calm
light
of-the moon,
Qui
rêver
fait
lune
les
triste
et
beau,
sad
and
beautiful,
oiseaux
which causes to-dream the birds (which makes the birds dream in the trees,)
Et
sangloter
d'extase
les
and to-sob with-ecstasy the (and makes the fountains sob with ecstasy,)
Les
grands
jets
d'eau
dans
les
arbres,
in
the
trees,
jets
d'eau,
fountains
of-water,
sveltes
parmi
les
marbres.
the tall fountains of-water slim (the tall, slim fountains among the marble statues.)
among
the
marble-statues.
(Literal translation and IPA transcription © 2008 by Bard Suverkrop—IPA Source, LLC)
Clair de lune (Verlaine) Page 2 of 2
