Aznavour has sung for presidents, popes and royalty, as well as at humanitarian events. In response to the 1988 Armenian earthquake, he founded the charitable organization Aznavour for Armenia along with his long-time friend impresario Levon Sayan. In 2009, he was appointed ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland, as well as Armenia's permanent delegate to the United Nations at Geneva. On 24 August 2017, Aznavour was awarded the 2,618th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On 17 September 2018, his last concert took place in NHK Hall, Tokyo.
Charles Aznavour died on 1 October 2018.
Charles Aznavour was perhaps the best-known French music hall entertainer in the world -- renowned the world over for the bittersweet love songs he has written and sung, which seem to embody the essence of French popular song, and also for his appearances on screen in such wildly divergent fare as Shoot the Piano Player, Candy, and The Tin Drum. His status as the quintessential French popular culture icon is something of an irony for a man who identifies himself most closely with his Armenian heritage. His father was a singer and sometime-restaurateur, while his mother was an actress and part-time seamstress. His father's singing, done in a notably impassioned style, heavily influenced Aznavour's approach to singing as a boy. Although he had a voracious appetite for music, he also had a serious impediment growing up, in the form of a paralyzed vocal cord that gave his voice a raspy quality. He channeled some of his energy into theater, making both his stage and screen debuts at age nine, in 1933, in the theater piece Un bon petit diable and in the film La guerre des gosses. As an adolescent, he danced in nightclubs and sold newspapers, as well as touring with theatrical companies, and he wrote a nightclub act in partnership with Pierre Roche -- Aznavour wrote the lyrics to their songs and it was through that material that he began his singing career. Early on, he learned to overcome his fears about his vocal limitations, in part with help from singing legend Édith Piaf, for whom he worked as a chauffeur, among other capacities; with her help, he developed a style that suited his capabilities and played to his strengths and also continued writing songs in earnest, some of which were performed by Piaf.
His success came very slowly, however. Aznavour at first found some difficulty being accepted as a composer in France or anywhere else. His compositions, although considered tame by any modern standard, were regarded as too risqué for French radio and were banned from the airwaves for a decade or more, from the late '40s through the end of the 1950s; American publishers seemed equally reticent about them, as he discovered on a visit to New York in 1948. That trip did yield his first performing engagement in the city, however, at the Cafe Society Downtown in Greenwich Village. For the next decade, Aznavour made his living as a performer in second-tier clubs and middle- or bottom-of-the-bill berths on three continents. His mix of daringly original and frank love songs, coupled with a limited but very expressive singing style, left audiences somewhat bewildered at first.
His breakthrough came in 1956, during a vaudeville engagement in Casablanca, where the audience reaction was so positive that Aznavour was moved to headliner status. After this, it became easier for the singer to find better engagements in France; by 1958 he even had a recording contract. He made his screen debut that same year in a dramatic role, playing an epileptic in George Franju's La tête contre les murs. He also composed music for Alex Joff's Du rififi chez les femmes in 1958; From there, he moved on to bigger roles in better movies, including Jean Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus and Francois Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player. The latter movie turned Aznavour into a screen star in France and opened the way for his breakthrough in America. He sang at Carnegie Hall in the early '60s and followed this up in 1965 with a one-man show, The World of Charles Aznavour, at the Ambassador Hotel in New York, which drew rave notices from audiences and critics alike. By that time, the once-struggling singer had secured his first American LP release with the similarly titled album The World of Charles Aznavour on Reprise Records, the label founded and run by Frank Sinatra.
Aznavour would be the last to compare himself with those whom he regards as truly gifted vocalists, such as Sinatra and Mel Tormé, preferring to think of himself as a composer who also happens to sing. His style of performing has been compared variously to Maurice Chevalier and Sinatra and has remained enduringly popular for four decades. Almost all of Aznavour's songs deal with love and its permutations, running the gamut from upbeat, joyous pieces such as Après l'amour and J'ai perdu la tête to the dark-hued J'en déduis que je t'aime and Bon anniversaire. A teetotaler and a racing car enthusiast, Aznavour has been married three times and has four children.
Que C'Est Triste Venise
Charles Aznavour Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Au temps des amours mortes
Que c'est triste Venise
Quand on ne s'aime plus
On cherche encore des mots
Mais l'ennui les emporte
On voudrait bien pleurer
Que c'est triste Venise
Lorsque les barcarolles
Ne viennent souligner
Que des silences creux
Et que le cœur se serre
En voyant les gondoles
Abriter le bonheur
Des couples amoureux
Que c'est triste Venise
Au temps des amours mortes
Que c'est triste Venise
Quand on ne s'aime plus
Les musées, les églises
Ouvrent en vain leurs portes
Inutile beauté
Devant nos yeux déçus
Que c'est triste Venise
Le soir sur la lagune
Quand on cherche une main
Que l'on ne vous tend pas
Et que l'on ironise
Devant le clair de lune
Pour tenter d'oublier
Ce qu'on ne se dit pas
Adieu tout les pigeons
Qui nous en fait escortent
Adieu Pont des Soupir
Adieu rêves perdus
C'est trop triste Venise
Au temps des amours mortes
C'est trop triste Venise
Quand on ne s'aime plus
Charles Aznavour's song Que C'Est Triste Venise captures the melancholic feeling of wandering through Venice, a city that is famed for being the city of love, when one's own love affair has ended. The lyrics are a lament for the city's beauty, which no longer has the power to charm and delight, and for the romance that once captivated the singer and his lover, and has now faded away.
The song begins with a declaration of Venetian sadness and loneliness, as the once thriving city seems now empty and forlorn. The singer continues to describe the city's beauty, hinting that its magnificence and charm have no value if one does not have someone to share it with. The verses become more poignant as the singer expresses his longing for his lost lover and the sadness that he feels at being alone in such a beautiful city. The chorus, with its repetition of the lines "Que c'est triste Venise" (How sad Venice is), captures the sense of nostalgia and melancholic despair that the singer feels.
The final verse brings the song to a close with the singer bidding farewell to Venice's famous landmarks, Pont des Soupirs and the pigeons, which once seemed to welcome them to the city. The song ends with the repetition of the opening lines and the sense that Venice will always remain a city of love and romance, but that its magic can only be experienced when love is in one's heart.
Line by Line Meaning
Que c'est triste Venise
Venice is very sad
Au temps des amours mortes
When love is dead
Que c'est triste Venise
Venice is very sad
Quand on ne s'aime plus
When we no longer love each other
On cherche encore des mots
We're still searching for words
Mais l'ennui les emporte
But boredom takes them away
On voudrait bien pleurer
We would like to cry
Mais on ne le peut plus
But we can't anymore
Que c'est triste Venise
Venice is very sad
Lorsque les barcarolles
When the barcarolles
Ne viennent souligner
Don't come to underscore
Que des silences creux
Anything but empty silences
Et que le cœur se serre
And the heart tightens
En voyant les gondoles
Seeing the gondolas
Abriter le bonheur
Sheltering the happiness
Des couples amoureux
Of the loving couples
Que c'est triste Venise
Venice is very sad
Au temps des amours mortes
When love is dead
Que c'est triste Venise
Venice is very sad
Quand on ne s'aime plus
When we no longer love each other
Les musées, les églises
Museums, churches
Ouvrent en vain leurs portes
Open their doors in vain
Inutile beauté
Useless beauty
Devant nos yeux déçus
In front of our disappointed eyes
Que c'est triste Venise
Venice is very sad
Le soir sur la lagune
In the evening on the lagoon
Quand on cherche une main
When we're looking for a hand
Que l'on ne vous tend pas
That isn't offered to us
Et que l'on ironise
And we make jokes
Devant le clair de lune
In front of the moonlight
Pour tenter d'oublier
To try to forget
Ce qu'on ne se dit pas
What we don't talk about
Adieu tout les pigeons
Goodbye to all the pigeons
Qui nous en fait escortent
Who escort us
Adieu Pont des Soupir
Goodbye Bridge of Sighs
Adieu rêves perdus
Goodbye lost dreams
C'est trop triste Venise
Venice is too sad
Au temps des amours mortes
When love is dead
C'est trop triste Venise
Venice is too sad
Quand on ne s'aime plus
When we no longer love each other
Lyrics © EDITIONS MUSICALES DJANIK
Written by: Charles Aznavour, Francoise Dorin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alex Delfin
Que c'est triste Venise au temps des amours mortes
Que c'est triste Venise quand on ne s'aime plus
On cherche encore des mots, mais l'ennui les emporte
On voudrait bien pleurer, mais on ne le peut plus
Que c'est triste Venise lorsque les barcarolles
Ne viennent souligner que les silences creux
Et que le cœur se serre en voyant les gondoles
Abriter le bonheur des couples amoureux
Que c'est triste Venise au temps des amours mortes
Que c'est triste Venise quand on ne s'aime plus
Les musées, les églises ouvrent en vain leurs portes
Inutile beauté devant nos yeux déçus
Que c'est triste Venise, le soir sur la lagune
Quand on cherche une main que l'on ne vous tend pas
Et que l'on ironise devant le clair de lune
Pour tenter d'oublier ce qu'on ne se dit pas
Adieu tous les pigeons qui nous ont fait escorte
Adieu Pont des Soupirs, adieu rêves perdus
C'est trop triste Venise au temps des amours mortes
C'est trop triste Venise quand on ne s'aime plus
Athanase Yombele
Nous sommes très tristes depuis que tu n'es plus là pour nous bercer avec tes fabuleuses chansons !
Très cher Charles, repose en paix.
Rildo Rocha
Não consigo decifrar, os sentimentos e pensamentos passados na mente e no coração, quando escuto esta maravilha da música global..... Só sei que, me faz voar alto e indescritível.🇧🇷
Franco Bressan
Muito talento esse cara
Tanguera Olivera
Que c’est triste Venise depuis que tu n’es plus là pour la chanter, repose en paix Aznavour et merci pour les chansons que tu nous laisses ❤️❤️❤️
Rita Matos
Agente voa com os anjos ao ouvir está canção maravilhosa ,sem palavras .Desejo tudo de maravilhoso a família desse ser maravilhoso q foi habitar com anjos .Com certeza está brilhando no céu .⭐🌟🌟🌟🌟❣️❤️❤️❤️🌟🌟
Osmsts
Quand j'entends cette chanson, je me souviens de mon frère qui n'est plus parmi nous aujourd'hui. Il a beaucoup aimé écouter cette chanson. Il me manque beaucoup.
julien sanchez
pareil pour mon papa
Abdallah Laoubi
💔💔💔💔💔💔💔
Rabah Ouzia
Patrick. Fiori
Fabien Bianco
Respect a eux qui repose en paix