''Le Lac'' (English : ''The Lake'') is one of the most famous poems of
Lamartine, in the ''Méditations poétiques'' published in 1820.
Lamartine greatly admired Julie Charles, the wife of the famous physicist
Jacques Charles
Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist.
Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking ...
. The poet's muse had been unable to come to the
Lac du Bourget
Lac du Bourget (; English Lake Bourget), also locally known as Lac Gris (; en, Grey Lake) or Lac d'Aix (), is a lake at the southernmost end of the Jura Mountains in the department of Savoie, France. It is the deepest lake located entirely wit ...
, the locale of many previous encounters in August 1817. There they had planned to meet again; mortally ill with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
she died after. Lamartine returned to the lake alone to see again the places they had visited together. Surprised to find the natural setting unchanged and indifferent, he wished it could preserve some memory of their past happiness. The poet sighs at the memory of a star-lit night on the lake with his muse, and laments the onrush of time that relentlessly carries one away from such happy moments. Consisting of sixteen
quatrains, it was met with great acclaim and propelled its author to the forefront of the list of famous
romantic poets.
The poem is often compared to the ''Tristesse d'Olympio'' of
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
and to the ''Souvenir'' of
Alfred de Musset. It was set to music by
Niedermeyer Niedermeier is a German surname. The name was initially used as a distinguishing name for a farmer (Meier) who had a farm lower (nieder) than the neighboring one(s). Variants are Niedermaier, Niedermair, Niedermayer, Niedermayr, Niedermeier, Niederm ...
and more recently by British composer David Matthews, which was premiered by the Orchestra of the Swan and soprano April Fredrick under the baton of Kenneth Woods in 2019.
Le lac
Related article
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Antoine Léonard Thomas, author of the hemistich " Pause in your trek O Time! ", copied from the poem "Ode sur le temps" by Lamartine in ''Le Lac''.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Listen to this Lamartine's poem set to music by Niedermeyer
Aix-les-Bains
French poems