Tino Rossi (April 29, 1907 - September 26, 1983) was a singer and film acto… Read Full Bio ↴Tino Rossi (April 29, 1907 - September 26, 1983) was a singer and film actor.

Born Constantino Rossi in Ajaccio, Corsica, France, he became a tenor of French cabaret and one of the great romantic idols of his time. Gifted with an operatic voice, a "Latin Lover" persona made him a movie star as well. Over his career, Rossi made hundreds of records and appeared in more than 25 films, the most notable of which was the 1953 production, Si Versailles m'était conté directed by Sacha Guitry. His romantic ballads had women swooning and his art-songs by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), Reynaldo Hahn (1875-1947), and other composers helped draw sold out audiences wherever he performed.

As a young man, he played guitar and sang at a variety of small venues in his hometown of Ajaccio before going on to perform in Marseilles and at resort clubs along the French Riviera. In the early 1930s he went to Paris and within a few years achieved enormous success, joining a Columbia Records roster that included the biggest stars of the day such as Lucienne Boyer, Damia, Pills et Tabet, Mireille, and Jean Sablon.

Rossi's success was greatly aided by songwriter Vincent Scotto (1876-1952), who wrote his first hits and collaborated with him for many years, composing and arranging many Rossi songs. Prior to World War II. Rossi was a major box office attraction in the French speaking world but expanded his audience to America with a 1938 visit followed up by wartime tours across the USA and Canada. In 1946, his song "Petit Papa Noël" sold more than thirty million copies worldwide. A Christmas classic for the family, the song still sells by the thousands each Yuletide season. The recipient of many musical awards, including the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque, Tino Rossi is the most popular personality to ever come from Corsica other than Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1947 he married Lilia Vetti, a young dancer he met while making a film. They would have a son together in a marriage that lasted for a lifetime. A star of film and the operetta scene, Tino Rossi's career also evolved into the television era, appearing in a number of popular variety shows. Age, and the advent of rock and roll in the 1960s saw him take backstage with the new generation of music lovers but he remained enormously popular with a following built up over fifty years of performing.

In 1982, for his contribution to France and its culture, President François Mitterrand named Tino Rossi a Commander of the Legion of Honor. That same year Rossi gave his last public performance at the Casino de Paris, a show that popular demand turned into a three month stint.

Tino Rossi died of pancreatic cancer in 1983 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. His body returned to his native Ajaccio for burial in the family plot at the local cemetery. His hometown named a street and the sailing harbor in his honor and at Nogent-sur-Marne, on the River Marne in Paris, there is a square named Tino Rossi Square.

Concerto d'automne
Tino Rossi Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

CONCERTO D'AUTOMNE

1.
Voici déjà l'automne
Les feuilles tourbillonnent
Dans les premiers sanglots du vent.
Les yeux fermés j'appelle
Ton image infidèle

Qui dansait dans le clair printemps mais...
Pour mieux bercer ma peine
Dans le lointain s'égrène
La mélodie que tu aimais
Mon amour...
Un pianiste dans l'ombre
Semble jouer pour moi ;
Tout le chagrin du monde
Est dans ses doigts.

2.
Voici déjà l'automne
L'eau de l'étang frissonne
Et les oiseaux ne chantent plus
Pour moi plus rien n'existe
Des jours et des jours tristes
Passeront sur mon coeur perdu Ah !
Et toujours ce pianiste
Sur ma blessure insiste
Jouant cet air que tu aimais
Mon amour...
Hélas les joies que donnent
Les beaux jours du printemps

Le vent méchant d'automne
Nous les reprend.

Overall Meaning

The song "Concerto d'automne" by Tino Rossi is a sad contemplation of lost love and the pain that comes with it. The lyrics paint a picture of the changing seasons, specifically the coming of autumn with the falling leaves and the chilly winds. The singer is haunted by the memory of a former lover who danced with him in the bright spring days which is now gone. He tries to soothe his heartache by listening to a distant melody that his lover once loved, played by an unseen pianist in the shadows. The melancholic feel of the song is further heightened by the lines "Tout le chagrin du monde est dans ses doigts" (All the pain of the world is in his fingers) which reflect the depth of the singer's sorrow.

In the second stanza, the singer continues to lament over the arrival of autumn, the stillness of the pond, and the absence of birdsong. He realizes that for him, nothing exists anymore, and he is left with a heart that is lost and lonely. The pianist continues to play the same melody, unrelenting, deepening the singer's pain. The song ends with the lines "Le vent méchant d'automne nous les reprend" (The cruel autumn wind takes them away from us), expressing the idea that the joys that come with spring are fleeting and will inevitably be taken away by the harshness of autumn.

Overall, the song is a poignant reflection on the transience of happiness and the inevitability of heartbreak. The use of imagery to describe the changing seasons and the powerful emotion conveyed by the lyrics make for a heart-rending listening experience.

Line by Line Meaning

Voici déjà l'automne
Here comes autumn, the season of melancholy and fading beauty.

Les feuilles tourbillonnent
The leaves are swirling in the wind, as if trying to escape the fate of falling and decaying.

Dans les premiers sanglots du vent.
The wind whispers a sad tune, as if mourning the end of summer and the beginning of the long, cold darkness.

Les yeux fermés j'appelle
With closed eyes, I call upon your memory, even though you have betrayed me and left me alone in this world.

Ton image infidèle
Your image is unfaithful because it promised me happiness and love, but delivered only sadness and pain.

Qui dansait dans le clair printemps mais...
You used to dance with me in the bright spring, but now you are nowhere to be found, leaving me to face the darkness alone.

Pour mieux bercer ma peine
To ease my pain and sadness, I listen to the distant melody that reminds me of you and our lost love.

Dans le lointain s'égrène
Somewhere far away, a pianist is playing a sad tune that resonates with my broken heart and soul.

La mélodie que tu aimais
It is the melody that you used to love, and that we shared in a happier time, before everything fell apart.

Un pianiste dans l'ombre
The pianist is hidden in the shadows, like a ghost haunting my memories and dreams.

Semble jouer pour moi ;
His music is for me alone, as if he knows my pain and sorrow, and wants to offer some solace and comfort.

Tout le chagrin du monde
His fingers on the keyboard express all the sadness and grief of the world, pouring out like tears from a broken heart.

Est dans ses doigts.
He channels the emotions of the universe through his fingers, making the piano weep and sing, echoing my own feelings of despair and longing.

L'eau de l'étang frissonne
The water in the pond shivers and ripples, mirroring my own inner turmoil and turbulence.

Et les oiseaux ne chantent plus
The birds have stopped singing, as if they too feel the melancholy and the end of happiness and love.

Pour moi plus rien n'existe
I am alone in the world, with nothing to hold on to but memories and regrets.

Des jours et des jours tristes
The days and nights stretch out in front of me, like a desert of emptiness and sorrow, with no hope or joy in sight.

Passeront sur mon coeur perdu Ah !
Time will pass, but it will not heal me, nor bring you back to me, nor fill the void you left in my soul.

Et toujours ce pianiste
The pianist is still there, playing his mournful tune, reminding me of what I have lost and what I will never regain.

Sur ma blessure insiste
He keeps touching my wound, making it bleed and ache, reopening it with every note he plays.

Jouant cet air que tu aimais
He plays the melody that we both loved, the one that now brings only tears and sorrow, and that will haunt me forever.

Hélas les joies que donnent
Alas, the happiness and love that we shared in the past are gone, replaced by sadness and emptiness.

Les beaux jours du printemps
The beautiful days of spring, when everything was blooming and radiant, are gone, replaced by the bleakness and darkness of autumn and winter.

Le vent méchant d'automne
The cruel wind of autumn reminds us that everything fades and dies, that nothing lasts forever, and that love is just a fleeting illusion.

Nous les reprend.
Autumn takes back the joys of spring, as if it wants to remind us of the cycle of life and death, and the inevitability of loss and grief.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BEUSCHER ARPEGE
Written by: CAMILLO BARGONI, RENE DENONCIN, HUBERT ITHIER (HUBERT CHAMBET), DANTE PANZUTI

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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