"I Dreamed a Dream" | |
---|---|
Song by Rose Laurens as Fantine from Les Misérables | |
Published | 1980 |
Recorded |
|
Genre | Musical, theatrical, pop |
Writer(s) |
|
Composer(s) | from the musical Les Misérables |
Language | French, English |
"I Dreamed a Dream" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Susan Boyle | ||||
from the album I Dreamed a Dream | ||||
Released | 15 April 2010 | |||
Format | Music Download | |||
Recorded | 2009 | |||
Genre | Operatic pop | |||
Length | 3:11 | |||
Label | Syco, Columbia | |||
Susan Boyle singles chronology | ||||
|
"I Dreamed a Dream" | |
---|---|
Song by Anne Hathaway from the album Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
Published | 1980 |
Released | 21 December 2012 |
Recorded | 2012 |
Genre | Musical, theatrical, pop |
Length | 4:38 |
Label | Universal Republic Records |
Writer(s) |
Claude-Michel Schönberg Herbert Kretzmer |
Language | English |
"Yume Yaburete (I Dreamed a Dream)" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Tomomi Kahara | ||||
from the album Dream: Self Cover Best | ||||
Released | 17 April 2013 | |||
Format | CD single, music download | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 3:52 | |||
Label | Universal J | |||
Writer(s) | Claude-Michel Schönberg Tokiko Iwatani (Japanese lyrics) |
|||
Producer(s) | Satoshi Takebe | |||
Tomomi Kahara singles chronology | ||||
|
"I Dreamed a Dream" is a song from the musical Les Misérables. It is a solo that is sung by the character Fantine during the first act. The music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with orchestrations by John Cameron. The English lyrics are by Herbert Kretzmer, based on the original French libretto by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel from the original French production.
The song is a lament, sung by the anguished Fantine, who has just been fired from her job at the factory and thrown onto the streets. She thinks back to happier days and wonders at all that has gone wrong in her life. The song is typically played in the key of E flat major with the final chorus in F major, though the pitch is shifted up a bit for high toned TVs, and it has also become a jazz standard.
In the 1985 musical, the song occurs after Fantine has been fired, and before "Lovely Ladies". In the original French production and the 2012 film adaptation, these two musical numbers are swapped around, to place dramatic emphasis on Fantine's depressing descent into prostitution.
The original French song was very extensively rewritten for the English production by Herbert Kretzmer, adding the prologue (There was a time...) and cutting the last few lines which became the ending to 'Lovely Ladies' ('Don't they know they're making love to one already dead'). For the French revival in 1991, the song was loosely translated back from the English version; there are thus two very different French versions of the song.
The song, as it appeared in the original Paris production from 1980, was entitled J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie ("I had dreamed of another life"), and was originally sung by Rose Laurens. The first English-language production of Les Misérables opened on the West End in London in October 1985, with the role of Fantine portrayed by Patti LuPone. She would later feature the song on her 1993 album Patti LuPone Live!