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Pauline Viardot<br />
Text anonymous<br />
‘L’absence’ (Absence) [CD 1 Track 8]<br />
(pub. 1844)<br />
FREDERICA VON STADE<br />
PUBLISHED JUST after the first of Viardot’s Russian seasons, this has a<br />
decidedly Spanish feel to it – is it, perhaps, another evocation of one of Manuel<br />
García’s songs? The fashion for the music of Spain took hold in Paris later,<br />
during the reign of the Emperor Napoleon III, and his Spanish wife, Eugénie<br />
de Montijo.<br />
Aux longs tourments de l’absence The only remedy for the long torment<br />
Le seul remède est mourir. of absence is to die,<br />
Dans la triste indifférence why languish so long<br />
Pourquoi si longtemps languir? in sad indifference?<br />
Sans repos, sans espérance? Without rest, without hope?<br />
Est-ce vivre que souffrir? Is to live to suffer?<br />
Aux longs tourments de l’absence The only remedy for the long torment<br />
Le seul remède est mourir. of absence is to die,<br />
Ah! ah!<br />
Lorsque je tiens ma promesse, While I keep my promise,<br />
Ingrat, de t’aimer toujours, ungrateful one, to love you always,<br />
Peut-être une autre maîtresse another mistress perhaps<br />
T’enivre d’autres amours. exalts you with other loves.<br />
C’est hélas! trop de souffrance, The suffering is too great, alas!<br />
–60–
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