Absence

Reviens, reviens, ma bien-aimée !
Comme une fleur loin du soleil,
La fleur de ma vie est fermée,
Loin de ton sourire vermeil.

Entre nos coeurs [tant de]1 distance !
Tant d'espace entre nos baisers !
Ô sort amer! ô dure absence !
Ô grands désirs inapaisés !

D'ici là-bas que de campagnes,
Que de villes et de hameaux,
Que de vallons et de montagnes,
À lasser le pied des chevaux !

Au pays qui me prend ma belle,
Hélas! si je pouvais aller ;
Et si mon corps avait une aile
Comme mon âme pour voler !

Par-dessus [les]2 vertes collines,
Les montagnes au front d'azur,
Les champs rayés et les ravines,
J'irais d'un vol rapide et sûr.

Le corps ne suit pas la pensée;
Pour moi, mon âme, va tout droit,
Comme une colombe blessée,
[S'abattre]3 au rebord de son toit.

Descends dans sa gorge divine,
Blonde et fauve comme de l'or,
Douce comme un duvet d'hermine,
Sa gorge, mon royal trésor ;

Et dis, mon âme, à cette belle :
«[Tu sais bien qu'il compte les jours!]4
Ô ma colombe! à tire d'aile,
Retourne au nid de nos amours.»

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Berlioz: "quelle"
² Bizet, David, Lavigne: "nos"
³ Bizet, David, Lavigne: "T'abattre"
⁴ Lavigne: appears as the last line of this verse.

Authorship

by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) , "Absence", from La Comédie de la Mort, published 1838

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

by Georges Baudouin , "Absence", published 1892, from Six mélodies, no. 3.
by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) , "Absence", op. 7 no. 4 (1840), stanzas 1-3 [voice and orchestra], from Les Nuits d'Été, no. 4, also set in German
by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) , "Absence", 1872, published 1873, stanzas 1,2,4-6,8 [soprano and piano], Paris, Choudens
by Émile Bourgeois (1849-1922) , "Reviens, ma bien-aimée", published 1889 [high voice and piano], from Six mélodies, no. 4, Ed. H. Tellier
by Montserrat Campmany i Cortés (1901-1995) , "L'absence", 1921. [voice and piano]
by Auguste Cœdès (1835-1884) , "L'absence - Romance", published 1875 [soprano and piano], from the collection Soirées d'automne, no. 1, Paris, A. Leduc
by Paul Combes , "Absence", published 1899 [high voice and piano], from 2 Mélodies, no. 1, Bordeaux, Henri Riffeau
by Arthur Coquard (1846-1910) , "Absence", published 1881 [high voice and piano], from 12 Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 9, Paris, J. Hamelle
by Félicien César David (1810-1876) , "Reviens! Reviens!", 1845? [high voice and piano], from Les perles d'Orient, no. 1.
by Joseph Depret , "Reviens, reviens !", published 1888, stanzas 1,2,6,8 [high voice and piano], from [21] Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 2, Paris, H. Tellier
by Joseph Depret , "Absence", published 1887 [mezzo-soprano and piano], from Sept mélodies, no. 4, Paris, H. Tellier
by Charlotte Devéria, née Thomas (1856-1885) , "Absence", published 1877 [tenor or soprano and piano], from 16 Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 11, Paris
by Alberto Ghislanzoni (1892-1984) , "Absence", published 1927 [high voice and piano], Rome, Edizione Musicale Arminoa
by Manuel Giró (1848-1916) , "Absence", 1878, published 1878-1880 [voice and piano], from Tras los montes - Nouvelles mélodies espagnoles, no. 14, Paris, Heugel & fils
by Lucien Hillemacher (1860-1909) and by Paul Hillemacher (1852-1933) , "Reviens, ma bien-aimée !", published 1889 [voice and piano], from Vingt Mélodies, no. 16, Paris, A. Leduc
by Jan (Andrzej Pawel Kaczmarek (1953-) , "L'absence", 1997, from Washington Square, no. 13.
by Jan (Andrzej Pawel Kaczmarek (1953-) , "L'absence", 1997, from Washington Square, no. 24.
by Léon Charles François Kreutzer (1817-1868) , "Absence", published 1847, stanzas 1-3 [high voice and piano], from 26 mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 12, Paris, Richault
by Louis (Brouillon) Lacombe (1818-1884) , "Absence"
by Gautier Lajoinie , "Absence", first performed 2011. [voice, guitar, and percussion]
by Ernest Lavigne (1851-1909) , "Absence", published 1901, stanzas 1,2,4-6, 8 [medium voice and piano], Montreal, S. Park
by Charles Lefebvre (1843-1917) , "Absence", published c1873 [voice and piano], from Six poésies mises en musique, no. 3, Paris, G. Hartmann
by John Parrott , "Absence", subtitle: "Barcarolle", published 1889 [voice and piano], Paris, H.-A. Tellier
by Édouard Pascal , "Absence - Reviens, reviens, ma bien-aimée", published 1874 [soprano or tenor and piano], from 25 Morceaux de chant, 2^ème recueil, no. 18, Imprimerie de Arony
by Felipe Pedrell (1841-1922) , "Absence", published 1877 [high voice and piano], from Consolations - 12 Mélodies sur des poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 9, Milan: Francesco Lucca
by Émile Pessard (1843-1917) , "Absence", published 1882 [tenor or soprano and piano], Paris
by Jules Philipot (1824-1897) , "Absence", op. 130, published 1874 [high voice and piano], from Poèmes et Chants, Poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 18, Paris, Léon Grus
by Paul Charles Marie Puget (1848-1917) [pseudonym] , "L'absence", published 1884 [voice and piano], from the collection Vingt mélodies, Vol. 2, no. 12, Paris, H. Lemoine
by Albert Renaud (1855-1924) , "Absence"
by Gaston Sarreau (1850-1935) , "L'absence", published 1882, Paris, G. Hartmann
by Jacques-Michel Zoubaloff (1876-1941) , "Absence", copyright © 1925 [medium voice and piano], from Quatre poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 1, Paris, Léon Grus

by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) , "Trennung", op. 7 no. 4, published 1894 [voice and orchestra], from Die Sommernächte. Sechs Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Orchester, no. 4, Leipzig, Rieter-Biedermann, also set in French

by Arthur Hyde , "Absence", published 1899 [soprano or tenor and piano], from Two Songs with piano accompaniment, no. 1, New York, G. Schirmer

ENG English [singable] (Samuel Byrne) , "Absence"
ITA Italian (Enrico Magnani) , "Assenza", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Bertram Kottmann) , "Anderwärts", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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