All posts by infrench

Les Feuilles Mortes

Les Feuilles Mortes is a popular French song known in English as “Autumn Leaves”.  The song is by Joseph Kosma with lyrics by French poet Jacques Prévert.  A chart hit in both Europe and America, it was featured in the movie “Les Portes de la Nuit” (1946) starring Yves Montand. However, it was first recorded by Cora Vaucaire and subsequently recorded more than 1,000 times. Continue reading Les Feuilles Mortes

La Plage

La Plage – une nouvelle.

Source:  Penguin Parallel Text.    Nouvelles Françaises 1.

The author, Alain Robbe-Grillet, (18 August 1922 – 18 February 2008), was a French writer and filmmaker.  He was one of the figures most associated with the Nouveau Roman (new novel) trend.  Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on 25 March 2004,  However he refused to prepare a speech and hand it in beforehand, so he was never formally accepted. Continue reading La Plage

Comme d’habitude

L’histoire d’une chanson:
En février 1967, le compositeur Jacques Revaux alors en vacances se rend compte qu’il a oublié d’écrire quatre morceaux commandés. Il les compose en une matinée. Parmi elles, une chanson initialement titrée For Me avec des paroles anglophones et qu’il propose à plusieurs artistes qui la refusent, dont Michel Sardou, Mireille Mathieu, Hugues Aufray et Claude François lui-même. Continue reading Comme d’habitude

Il est né

Il est né, le divin enfant is a traditional French Christmas carol, which was published for the first time in 1862  by R. Grosjean, organist of the Cathedral of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, in a collection of carols entitled “Airs des Noëls lorrains.”  The text of the carol was published for the first time in a collection of ancient carols, published in either 1875 or 1876 by Dom G. Legeay. Continue reading Il est né