Beau Soir
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"Beau Soir" is a French art song written by Claude Debussy. It is a setting of a poem by Paul Bourget. Debussy was seventeen or eighteen when he wrote this song (ca.1880), and his music was marked by the aesthetics of the period.
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[edit] Lyrics
Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses
Et qu'un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé,
Un conseil d'être heureux semble sortir des choses
Et monter vers le coeur troublé.
Un conseil de goûter le charme d'être au monde
Cependant qu'on est jeune et que le soir est beau,
Car nous nous en allons, comme s'en va cette onde:
Elle à la mer, nous au tombeau.
[edit] Translation of Lyrics
When the rivers are rosy in the setting sun,
And a mild tremor runs over the wheat fields,
An exhortation to be happy seems to emanate from things
And rises towards the troubled heart.
An exhortation to enjoy the charm of being alive
While one is young and the evening is beautiful,
For we are going on, as this stream goes on:
The stream to the sea, we to the grave.
[edit] Performances and Recordings
"Beau Soir" has been recorded by many singers, including Barbra Streisand (on her album Classical Barbra), Maggie Teyte, Jean Stilwell, Véronique Gens, Giuseppe de Luca, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Jessye Norman (on the album An Evening With Jessye Norman.) It has also been successfully arranged for various instruments, including for violin and piano by Jascha Heifetz [1].
