L'étranger

Qui aimes-tu le mieux, homme énigmatique, [dis]1 ? Ton père, ta mère, ta sœur [ou]1 ton frère ?
- Je n'ai ni père, ni mère, ni sœur, ni frère.
- Tes amis ?
- Vous vous servez là d'une parole dont le sens m'est restée jusqu'à ce jour inconnu.
- Ta patrie ?
- J'ignore sous quelle latitude elle est située.
- La beauté ?
- Je l'aimerais volontiers, déesse et immortelle.
- L'or ?
- Je le hais comme vous haïssez Dieu.
- Eh ! qu'aimes-tu donc, extraordinaire étranger ?
- J'aime les nuages. Les nuages qui passent... là-bas...là-bas les merveilleux nuages !

Translation(s): ENG GER

List of language codes

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Barraqué.

Submitted by Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Authorship

• by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "L'étranger", appears in Le Spleen de Paris -- ou Petits poèmes en prose, no. 1, first published 1869 [ author's text checked 1 time]

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

• by Jean Barraqué (1928 - 1973), "L'étranger" [voice and piano], from Trois mélodies, no. 2. [ sung text verified 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ENG by Erich Zeisl.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    

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

• ENG English (Peter Low) , "The stranger", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website: 2009-04-03.
Last modified: 2017-09-06 15:27:01
Line count: 12
Word count: 104

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The stranger

Who do you love most, enigmatic man – say it - your father, your mother, your sister or your brother?
- I have no father, no mother, no sister, no brother.
- Your friends?
- The meaning of that word has always been unknown to me.
- Your homeland?
- I don't know what latitude it lies in.
- Beauty?
- That I would gladly love, as a goddess or immortal woman.
- Gold?
- I hate it as you hate God.
- Eh! What do you love then, extraordinary stranger?
- I love the clouds… the clouds that pass… there… up there… the marvellous clouds!

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Authorship

• Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2017 by Peter Low, (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.
  
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• a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "L'étranger", appears in Le Spleen de Paris -- ou Petits poèmes en prose, no. 1, first published 1869 GER
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Jean Barraqué. Go to the text.

Text added to the website: 2017-09-12.
Last modified: 2017-09-12 18:07:55
Line count: 12
Word count: 106