by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Les coquillages
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG
Chaque coquillage incrusté Dans la grotte où nous nous aimâmes À sa particularité. L'un a la pourpre de nos âmes Dérobée au sang de nos cœurs Quand je brûle et [quand]1 tu t'enflammes ; Cet autre affecte tes langueurs Et tes pâleurs alors que, lasse, Tu m'en veux de mes yeux moqueurs ; Celui-ci contrefait la grâce De ton oreille, et celui-là Ta nuque rose, courte et grasse ; Mais un, entre autres, me troubla.
View original text (without footnotes)
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 17-18.
Note: All ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".
1 some editions: "que"Text Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Les coquillages", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 9, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1869 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Gérard Condé (b. 1947), "Les coquillages", 1973, published 2001 [ reciter and piano ], from Fêtes galantes, récitation accompagnée au piano, no. 6, Éd. Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Antonio Lima Fragoso (1897 - 1918), "Les coquillages", 1917, published 1972 [ voice and piano ], from Cançoes do sol poente - Poèmes Saturniens, no. 4, Lisbonne, Éd. Valentim de Carvalho [sung text not yet checked]
- by Werner (Erich) Josten (1885 - 1963), "Les coquillages", published 1931 [ voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies de Paul Verlaine, no. 3, Paris, Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre-Yvan Jouffroy , "Les coquillages", [1949] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Fernand Ochsé (1879 - 1944), "Les coquillages", 1908, published 1913 [ voice and piano ], from Le Parc, no. 7, Berlin, Fürstner [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jósef-Zygmunt Szulc (1875 - 1956), "Les coquillages", op. 83 (Dix mélodies sur des poésies de Verlaine) no. 7, published 1907 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Rouart Lerolle [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Škeble"
- ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , "The seashells", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-12
Line count: 13
Word count: 73