Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Un prêté pour un rendu
Translations © by Guy Laffaille
Song Cycle by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)
View original-language texts alone: Tit for tat
A Song of Enchantment I sang me there, In a green-green wood, by waters fair, Just as the words came up to me I sang it under the wild wood tree. Widdershins turned I, singing it low, Watching the wild birds come and go; No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen Under the thick-thatched branches green. Twilight came; silence came; The planet of Evening's silver flame; By darkening paths I wandered through Thickets trembling with drops of dew. But the music is lost and the words are gone Of the song I sang as I sat alone, Ages and ages have fallen on me - On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.
Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "A Song of Enchantment", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 8. Songs, no. 4, first published 1913
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Confirmed with Peacock Pie. A Book of Rhymes by Walter de la Mare, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., [1920], p. 171.
Je chantais là un chant d'enchantement, Dans un bois tout vert, près de jolies eaux, Juste comme les mots me venaient Je le chantais sous l'arbre du bois sauvage. Dos au soleil, chantant tout bas, Regardant les oiseaux sauvages aller et venir ; Aucun nuage dans le ciel bleu foncé en vue Sous les branches vertes bien épaisses. Le soir tomba ; le silence vint ; La planète d'argent du soir se mit à briller ; Par des chemins sombres, je me promenais à travers Des fourrés tremblant avec des gouttes de rosée. Mais la musique est perdue et les mots sont partis Du chant que je chantais assis seul, Les années, l'une après l'autre, sont tombées sur moi, Sur le bois, sur l'étang et du vieil arbre.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "A Song of Enchantment", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 8. Songs, no. 4, first published 1913
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-29
Line count: 16
Word count: 124
There is a wind where the rose was; Cold rain where sweet grass was; And clouds like sheep Stream o'er the steep Grey skies where the lark was. Nought gold where your hair was; Nought warm where your hand was; But phantom, forlorn, Beneath the thorn, Your ghost where your face was. Sad winds where your voice was; Tears, tears where my heart was; And ever with me, Child, ever with me, Silence where hope was.
Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Autumn", from Poems, first published 1906
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Il y a du vent là où était la rose ; De la pluie froide là où était l'herbe douce ; Et des nuages comme des moutons Fument au dessus des raides Cieux gris là où était l'alouette. Rien de doré là où était ta chevelure ; Rien de tiède là où était ta main ; Qu'un fantôme, une personne désespérée, Sous les épines, Ton spectre là où était ton visage. Des vents tristes là où était ta voix ; Des larmes, des larmes là où était mon cœur ; Et toujours avec moi, Mon enfant, toujours avec moi, Le silence là où était l'espoir.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Autumn", from Poems, first published 1906
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-29
Line count: 15
Word count: 99
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
...
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Silver", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 7. Earth and Air, no. 4, first published 1913
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Lentement, silencieusement, maintenant la lune Marche dans la nuit dans ses souliers d'argent ; De ci, de là, elle regarde et voit Les fruits d'argent sur les arbres d'argent ; Un par un, les croisées attrapent Ses rayons sous le chaume argenté ; Couché dans sa niche, comme une souche, Avec des pattes d'argent dort le chien. Une souris des moissons trottine par ci, par là, Avec des griffes d'argent, et des yeux d'argent ; Et les poissons immobiles brillent dans l'eau, Dans les roseaux d'argent dans un flot d'argent.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Silver", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 7. Earth and Air, no. 4, first published 1913
Go to the general single-text view
Translation of title "Silver" = "Argent"This text was added to the website: 2011-06-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 86
Dark is the night, The fire burns faint and low, Hours -- days -- years, Into grey ashes go; I strive to read, But sombre is the glow. Thumbed are the pages, And the print is small; Mocking the winds That from the darkness call; Feeble the fire that lends Its light withal. O ghost, draw nearer; Let thy shadowy hair Blot out the pages That we cannot share; Be ours the one last leaf By Fate left bare! Let's Finis scrawl, And then Life's book put by; Turn each to each In all simplicity: Ere the last flame is gone To warm us by.
Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Vigil", appears in Motley and Other Poems, first published 1918
Go to the general single-text view
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
Sombre est la nuit, Le feu brûle faiblement, doucement, Après des heures, des jours, des années, Se transforme en cendres grises ; Je m'efforce de lire, Mais la lueur est sombre. Les pages sont écornées Et c'est écrit petit ; Les vents moqueurs Appellent depuis l'obscurité ; Le feu faible qui accorde En outre sa lumière. Ô esprit, viens plus près ; Que ta chevelure vague Masque les pages Que nous ne pouvons pas partager ; Que notre dernière page soit Laissée vide par le destin ! Gribouillons Fin, Et puis mettons de côté le livre de la vie ; Tournons-nous l'un vers l'autre En toute simplicité : Avant que ne parte la dernière flamme Pour nous réchauffer.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Vigil", appears in Motley and Other Poems, first published 1918
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-29
Line count: 24
Word count: 110
Have you been catching ... fish, Tom Noddy?
Have you snared a weeping hare?
Have you whistled "No Nunny" and gunned a poor bunny,
Or blinded a bird of the air?
Have you trod like a murderer through the green woods,
Through the dewy deep dingles and glooms,
While every small creature screamed shrill to Dame Nature
"He comes - and he comes!"?
Wonder I very much do, Tom Noddy,
If ever, when off you roam,
An Ogre from space will stoop a lean face,
And lug you home:
Lug you home over his fence, Tom Noddy,
Of thorn-sticks nine yards high,
With your bent knees strung round his old iron gun
And your head a dan-dangling by:
And hang you up stiff on a hook, Tom Noddy,
From a stone-cold pantry shelf,
Whence your eyes will glare in an empty stare,
Till you are cooked yourself!
Text Authorship:
- by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Tit for tat", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 5. Beasts, no. 7, first published 1913
See other settings of this text.
Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.
As-tu attrapé du poisson, Tom Noddy ? As-tu pris au piège un lièvre qui pleurait ? As-tu sifflé "Non, mamie" et tiré un pauvre lapin, Ou rendu aveugle un oiseau des airs ? As-tu marché comme un assassin à travers les bois verts, À travers les vallées et les ténèbres profondes et couvertes de rosée, Tandis que toutes les petits êtres lançaient des cris stridents à Dame Nature "Il arrive, il arrive !" ? Je serais vraiment émerveillé, Tom Noddy, Si jamais, quand tu vagabondes, Un ogre venu de l'espace inclinait sa face maigre Et t'entraînait chez lui : T'entraînait chez lui au-dessus de sa barrière, Tom Noddy, De branches d'épineux, de neuf mètres de haut, Avec tes genoux pliés attachés autour de son vieux fusil en fer Et ta tête se bal-balançant : Et t'aurait pendu bien raide à un crochet, Tom Noddy, À une étagère du garde-manger en pierre froide D'où tes yeux vides lanceraient des regards furieux Jusqu'à ce que tu sois cuit toi-même !
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956), "Tit for tat", appears in Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes, in 5. Beasts, no. 7, first published 1913
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-29
Line count: 20
Word count: 162