Recueillement

Sois sage, ô ma Douleur, et tiens-toi plus tranquille; 
Tu réclamais le Soir: il descend, le voici:
Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe la ville,
Aux uns portant la paix, aux autres le souci.

[Pendant]1 que des mortels la multitude vile,
Sous le fouet du Plaisir, ce bourreau sans merci,
Va cueillir des remords dans la fête servile,
Ma Douleur, donne-moi la main; viens par ici,

Loin d'eux. Vois se pencher les défuntes Années,
Sur les balcons du ciel, en robes surannées.
[Surgir du fond des eaux le Regret souriant]2;

Le Soleil moribond s'endormir sous une arche;
Et, comme un long linceul traînant à l'Orient,
Entends, ma chère, entends la douce Nuit qui marche.

by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) , "Recueillement", from Les Fleurs du Mal, in Appendices, no. 13

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Kees van Baaren (1906-1970) , "Recueillement", 1947.
by Claude Achille Debussy (1862-1918) , "Recueillement", 1890, from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 4.
by Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921) , "Recueillement", 1907, orchestrated 1916.
by Gustave Doret (1866-1943) , "Recueillement", published 1898.
by Luis de Freitas Branco (1890-1955) , "Recueillement", 1909.
by Antony Hopkins (1921-) , "Recueillement", 1952.
by Louis Vierne (1870-1937) , "Recueillement", op. 45 no. 1 (1921), published 1924, from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1.

by Bruce Christian Bennett (1968-) , "Meditation", 1996-97 [mixed chorus SATB], from Four Pieces, no. 3.

ENG English (Peter Low)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Meditation

Behave, my Sorrow! let's have no more scenes
 [ ... ]

by Richard Howard (1929-) , copyright ©

a text in French by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) , "Recueillement", from Les Fleurs du Mal, in Appendices, no. 13

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Bruce Christian Bennett (1968-) , "Meditation", 1996-97 [mixed chorus SATB], from Four Pieces, no. 3.

Date added to the website: 2003-12-07.