Moon as Violin | The soul of the trembling violin

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by Émile Albert Kayenberg (1860 - 1929), as Albert Giraud

Translation © by Andrew Schneider

Violon de Lune

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

L'âme du violon tremblant,
Plein de silence et d'harmonie,
Rêve dans sa boîte vernie
Un rêve languide et troublant.

Qui donc fera d'un bras dolent
Vibrer dans la nuit infinie
L'âme du violon tremblant,
Plein de silence et d'harmonie ?

La Lune, d'un rais mince et lent,
Avec des douceurs d'agonie.
Caresse de son ironie,
Comme un lumineux archet blanc,
L'âme du violon tremblant.

Text Authorship:

by Émile Albert Kayenberg (1860 - 1929), as Albert Giraud, "Violon de Lune", appears in Pierrot lunaire, first published 1884 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Otto Erich Hartleben (1864 - 1905) , "Die Violine", appears in Pierrot lunaire, Berlin, Verlag Deutscher Phantasten, first published 1893 ; composed by Joseph Marx, Otto Vrieslander.
Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation possibly by Otto Erich Hartleben (1864 - 1905); composed by Ferdinand Pfohl.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Andrew Schneider) , "Moon as Violin", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-12-15
Line count: 13
Word count: 63

Moon as Violin

Language: English after the French (Français)

The soul of the trembling violin,
full of silence and harmony,
dreams within its varnished enclosure
most languid and troubling thoughts.

Who, then, will cause, 
the soul of the trembling violin,
full of silence and harmony,
to vibrate through a mournful arm?

Moon, through her slow, thin ray,
with sweetest agony,
Caresses, in her ironic way,
like a luminous white bow,
The soul of the trembling violin.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2018 by Andrew Schneider, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Émile Albert Kayenberg (1860 - 1929), as Albert Giraud, "Violon de Lune", appears in Pierrot lunaire, first published 1884
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-07-12
Line count: 13
Word count: 67