"On revient toujours à ses premières amours" (romance)

Overview

A French romance, and also a proverb ("one always returns to one's first loves"). I could not identify the composer or the date of the song; searches of IMSLP, BnF and the popular-music catalogues returned nothing under this title. Treat it as an unidentified sentimental romance of the early 1870s.

Marie and this work

It is "la romance" of her 1874-75 season in Nice, as Mignon is that of 1875-76.

• 030.0058 (22 Feb 1875, Nice): the song is mentioned the evening of the opera performance of Il barbiere (the LAN note says "likely a popular song of the era").
• 049.0441 (15 Nov 1875): "Chaque année a sa romance. L'année dernière c'était On revient toujours à ses premières amours, cette année c'est l'air de Mignon. Toutes les deux ont fini tristement pour moi" (see Connais-tu le pays).
• 051.0216 (31 Dec 1875): used as a proverb, not necessarily the song: Audiffret's one real passion was Miss Robenson, "on revient toujours à ses premières amours".

Sources

• Diary paragraphs as cited.