We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

lyrics

(de l'art)
Ces marbles fernes et polis
plus que la peau la mieux poncée,
ces corps blancs et mines
plus que l‘éphèbe le mieux fait,
muscles chers aux sculpteurs…
N’ont-ils pas ennobli leurs modèles?

J’accorde que ces froides noblesses
découragent les amants audacieux…
Et encore! dirait Lucien de Samosate.

Mais pour ceux qui cherchent humainement
l’évocation d’un souvenir,
de quel secours sont ces images tangibles!

L’art est la delectation morose par excellence,
un triste et tendre essai d’éterniser nos dilections,
de rappeler l’amour qui passe.

(About art)
These marble statues firm and polished
more than the best pumiced skin,
these bodies white and slim
more than the best made Adonis,
muscles that are dear to sculptors…
– Haven’t they ennobled their models?

I grant that these cold nobilities
discourage audacious lovers…
– And more! Lucien de Samosate would say.

But for those who humanely seek
the evocation of a memory,
what relief these tangible images provide!

Art is the very greatest morose delight,
A sad and tender attempt to immortalize our pleasures,
to remember passing love.

English trans. by Susan de Muth

credits

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

contact / help

Contact Thomas Oboe Lee

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Thomas Oboe Lee, you may also like: