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L'aube [allume]1 sur les coteaux, L'éclair des serpes aiguisées : Courez, faucilles et couteaux, [Au travers des]2 feuilles rosées. Le cep aux ramures brisées Gémit ainsi qu'un être humain. -- Douleur étrange! [Myrto, pareil]3 à la vendange, Mon cœur a saigné sous ta main! Midi qui verse le sommeil Descend de la vigne à la plaine. Les vendangeurs, troupeau vermeil, Dorment sous sa brûlant haleine. Celle qui veille pour ma peine Ceint son front d'un raisin sanglant. -- Parure étrange ! [Myrto, pareil]3 à la vendange, Mon désir étreint ton front blanc. [Dans les sourds tonneaux, jusqu'au soir, Les hottes se sont écroulées. À l'aigre refrain du pressoir Se mêlent des chansons ailées. L'enfant, sur les grappes foulées Saute avec un rire ingénu. -- La danse étrange ! Myrto, pareil à la vendange, Je suis meurtri sous ton pied nu !]4
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Note: Castillon replaced the third stanza with rearranged lines from another poem by Silvestre, "À quoi bon te voiler durant que j'ai des yeux ?".
1 Castillon: "éveille"2 Castillon: "A travers les"
3 Castillon: "Ô Rosa ! pareil"
4 Castillon:
Mais je maudis tout bas ta puissance farouche, Qui sans pitié suspend au dessus de ma bouche, Où mes désirs jamais ne seront apaisés, Cette vendange amère, offerte à mes baisers! Mon désir, pareil à la vendange, Etreint, Rosa, ton front blanc.
Text Authorship:
- by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901), no title, appears in Poésies 1861-1874, in 1. Les amours, in 2. Vers pour être chantés, in Myrto, no. 4 [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):
- by Alexis de Castillon (1838 - 1873), "Vendange", op. 8 no. 6 (1868-73) [ high voice and piano or orchestra ], from Six poésies d'Armand Silvestre, no. 6, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "The grape harvest", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 27
Word count: 140
Dawn awakens on the hills the lightning of sharpened billhooks. Run, sickles and knives, through the dewy leaves. The stock with its broken foliage whimpers like a human being. Strange pain! Oh, Rosa! As in harvest-time, my heart has bled under your hand! Noon, pouring out sleep, descends from the vineyard to the plain, and the scarlet flock of harvesters sleeps under its burning breath. She who watches for my pain binds a bloody grape upon her brow. Strange ornament! Oh Rosa, as in harvest-time, my desire embraces your white brow, but I mutter curses on your pitiless, untamed power, which hangs above my mouth, where my desires will never be fulfilled, this bitter harvest, that I may kiss it! My desire, as in harvest-time, embraces your white brow, Rosa.
Note: this is a translation of Castillon's sung text.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2006 by Faith J. Cormier, (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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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901), no title, appears in Poésies 1861-1874, in 1. Les amours, in 2. Vers pour être chantés, in Myrto, no. 4
This text was added to the website: 2006-01-10
Line count: 24
Word count: 130