À une femme

[Enfant,]1 si j'étais roi, je donnerais l'empire,
Et mon char, et mon sceptre, et mon peuple à genoux,
Et ma couronne d'or, et mes bains de porphyre,
Et mes flottes, à qui la mer ne peut suffire,
Pour un regard de vous!

Si j'étais Dieu, la terre et l'air avec les ondes,
Les anges, les démons courbés devant ma loi,
Et le profond chaos aux entrailles fécondes,
L'éternité, l'espace et les cieux et les mondes,
Pour un baiser de toi!

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Goldschmidt's setting begins "Si j'étais roi"; further changes may exist not noted above.
Note: the poem is headed with the following quote:

    C'est une âme charmante. 
                --DIDEROT.

by Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885) , "À une femme", 1829, from Les Feuilles d'automne, no. 22

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

by Gary Bachlund , "À une femme", 2009. [baritone and piano]
by Lucien Dautresme (1826-1892) , "Enfant, si j'étais roi"
by Adalbert von Goldschmidt (1848-1906) , "À une Femme", published 1883 [voice and piano], from Lieder und Gesänge für 1 Singstimme mit Pianofortebegleitung, no. 14, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel
by Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) , "Enfant, si j'étais roi", S. 283 no. 1 (1844), published 1844 [soprano or tenor and piano], Berlin, Schlesinger, also set in German
by Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) , "Enfant, si j'étais roi", S. 283 no. 2 (1849), published 1859 [tenor and piano], Berlin, Schlesinger, also set in German
by Victor Massé (1822-1884) , "À une femme"

by Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) , "Mein Kind, wär ich König", S. 283, published 1844, also set in French
by Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) , "Mein Kind, wär ich König", S. 283 no. 2 (1849), published 1859 [tenor and piano], Berlin, Schlesinger, also set in French

ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Child, if I were king, I would give the empire", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Alberto Bonati) , "Niña, si yo fuera rey, daría el imperio", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
CHI Chinese (Yen-Chiang Che) , "孩子，如果我是國王", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "My child, were I a king"

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

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