"Fantaisie" by Gerard de Nerval [translated by Robert Launay]

by Gérard de Nerval

Il est un air pour qui je donnerais
Tout Rossini, tout Mozart et tout Weber,
Un air très vieux, languissant et funèbre,
Qui pour moi seul a des charmes secrets.

Or, chaque fois que je viens à l’entendre,
De deux cents ans mon âme rajeunit :
C’est sous Louis treize ; et je crois voir s’étendre
Un coteau vert, que le couchant jaunit,

Puis un château de brique à coins de pierre,
Aux vitraux teints de rougeâtres couleurs,
Ceint de grands parcs, avec une rivière
Baignant ses pieds, qui coule entre des fleurs ;

Puis une dame, à sa haute fenêtre,
Blonde aux yeux noirs, en ses habits anciens,
Que, dans une autre existence peut-être,
J’ai déjà vue… – et dont je me souviens !

 

Fantasy

Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855)

There is an air for which I would exchange
All Mozart, all Rossini, all Beethoven,
An ancient air, lugubrious and strange,
Which holds its secret charms for me alone.

My soul grows younger by four hundred years
Each time I hear those strains from long ago.
On the horizon, a green hill appears
And then turns yellow in the sunset’s glow.

On a stone foundation lies a brick chateau,
Its stained glass windows tinted with bright reds,
Surrounded by greenery, and at its base there flows
A brook that winds its way through flower beds.

From a high window, garbed in antique wraps,
A lady peers, blonde with eyes of jet
Who in a previous life perhaps
I once knew … and whom I can’t forget.

[translated by Robert Launay]

Comments

[Anna]

One must wonder about the decision to change the composer "Weber" to the composer "Beethoven."

[Robert Launay]

First of all, Weber is far less known as a composer nowadays than in the mid-nineteenth century. Weber is also much harder to rhyme! It's true that Weber is enjoying a (very modest!) revival, but even so ...

[gerard]

Hello,
I do not understand why you translate 200 as 400 years?
regards,
Gérard