LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,106)
  • Text Authors (19,480)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Translation by Franz Evers (1871 - 1947)

Un singe en veste de brocart
Language: French (Français) 
Un singe en veste de brocart
Trotte et gambade devant elle
Qui froisse un mouchoir de dentelle
Dans sa main gantée avec art,

Tandis qu'un négrillon tout rouge
Maintient à tour de bras les pans
De sa lourde robe en suspens,
Attentif à tout pli qui bouge ;

Le singe ne perd pas des yeux
La gorge blanche de la dame,
Opulent trésor que réclame
Le torse nu de l'un des dieux ;

Le négrillon parfois soulève
Plus haut qu'il ne faut, l'aigrefin,
[Son]1 fardeau somptueux, afin
De voir ce dont la nuit il rêve ;

Elle va par les escaliers,
Et ne paraît pas davantage
Sensible à l'insolent suffrage
De ses animaux familiers.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 15.

Notes: In the first publication, the spelling variant "Cortége" is used as the title. This spelling became less common the the 1870s, and "Cortège" is the title used in most subsequent publications. All ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".

1 Pijper: "Soit" ?

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), title 1: "Cortège", title 2: "Cortége", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 8, 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 Karl Heinrich David (1884 - 1951), "Gavotte", op. 79 no. 3, published 1942-1944 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Quatre chants, d'après des poésies de Paul Verlaine, no. 3, Zurich et Leipzig: Hug Frères & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Fernand Ochsé (1879 - 1944), "Cortège", 1908 [ voice and piano ], from Le Parc, no. 6, first published in Le Figaro, Supp. Litt., 23 March 1908 ; later published Berlin, Fürstner, 1913 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Willem Pijper (1894 - 1947), "Cortège", 1916, published 1947 [ mezzo-soprano and orchestra or piano ], from Fêtes galantes, no. 3, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Irena Regina Poldowski (1880 - 1932), "Cortège", 1912, published 1913 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Rœder [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Franz Evers (1871 - 1947) , "Aufzug" ; composed by Willy Czernik.
      • Go to the text.

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 112

Aufzug
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the French (Français) 
Ein Affe springt in Goldbrokat 
um sie herum nach Affen Weise, 
und ihre Hand zerknittert leise 
des Spitzentuches reichen Staat. 

Indes ein roter Negerknabe 
die schwere Schleppe lüstern hebt; 
wie er bei jeder Falte bebt, 
dass sie geheim sein Auge labe! 

Der Affe schielt begehrlich dreist 
auf seiner Herrin weisse Büste, 
den reichen Schatz, der alle Lüste 
des nackten Götterleibs verheisst. 

Der Negerjunge hebt zuweilen, 
der Schlaukopf, mehr als nötig thut, 
die Säume, drauf sein Auge ruht, 
sein nächtlich Fieber ihm zu heilen. 

Sie aber geht in stolzem Traum 
hinab die Stufen — und die Tröpfe, 
die frech ihr dienenden Geschöpfe 
beachtet sie im Schreiten kaum. 

Confirmed with Gedichte von Paul Verlaine. Eine Anthologie der besten Übertragungen, herausgegeben von Stefan Zweig, Berlin and Leipzig : Schuster & Loeffler, 1902, page 47.


Text Authorship:

  • by Franz Evers (1871 - 1947), "Aufzug" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), title 1: "Cortège", title 2: "Cortége", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 8, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1869
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Willy Czernik (1901 - 1996), "Aufzug" [ mezzo-soprano and orchestra ], from Vier Lieder nach Gedichten von Paul Verlaine, no. 2, Musikverlag Zimmermann [sung text not yet checked]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Bertram Kottmann

This text was added to the website: 2021-03-26
Line count: 20
Word count: 106

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris