Singable translation by
John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945)
Melisande's song
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Available translation(s): GER
The King's three blind daughters
Sit locked in a hold.
In the darkness their lamps
Make a glimmer of gold.
Up the stair of the turret
The sisters are gone,
Seven days they wait there
And the lamps they burn on.
"What hope?" says the first,
And leans o'er the flame.
"I hear our lamps burning.
O yet! if he came!"
"O hope!" says the second,
"Was that the lamps' flare,
Or a sound of low footsteps?
The Prince on the stair!"
But the holiest sister
She turns her about:
"O no hope now for ever,
Our lamps are gone out!"
Authorship:
Based on:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vyacheslav Karatygin (1875 - 1925) ENG SWE ; composed by Boleslav Leopoldovitch Yavorsky.
- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Bertel Gripenberg (1878 - 1947) ENG FIN ; composed by Jean Sibelius.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Melisandes Lied", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2005-03-01
Line count: 20
Word count: 101
Melisandes Lied
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English
Des Königs drei Töchter,
gefangen und blind,
der Schein ihrer Lampen
das Dunkel durchdringt.
So steigen im Burgturm
die Stufen sie hoch,
sieben Tage am warten -
ihr Licht leuchtet noch.
Voll Hoffnung die erste
zur Flamme sich neigt.
Ich höre sie brennen,
ach , träf' er bald ein!
Ist's das Flackern der Flamme,
ist's des Prinzen Schritt?
Die zweite der Schwestern
fragt's und hofft mit.
Die Frömmste der Dreien
erkennt es mit Graus:
Die Hoffnung erloschen,
die Lampen sind aus.
Authorship:
Based on:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2005-03-01
Line count: 20
Word count: 82