LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,111)
  • Text Authors (19,486)
  • 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

×

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.

Four French Folksongs

Song Cycle by Mátyás György Seiber (1905 - 1960)

View original-language texts alone: Four French Folksongs

1. Réveillez vous
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Réveillez-vous, belle endormie
Réveillez-vous, car il est jour
mettez la tête à la fenêtre 
vous entendrez parler de nous

La belle a mis le pied à terre
tout doucement s'en est allée
d'une main elle ouvre la porte 
entrez galant si vous m'aimez

Mais la belle s'est endormie
entre les bras de son amant
et celui-ci qui la regarde
en lui voyant ces yeux mourants

Que les étoiles sont brillantes
et le soleil est éclatant
mais les beaux yeux de ma maîtresse
en sont encore les plus charmants

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

Go to the general single-text view

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
1. Wake up
Language: English 
Wake up, my beautiful sleeper,
Wake up, because it's daytime
Put your head out the window
You'll hear us talk about you

The beauty put her foot on the floor,
slowly made her way;
with one hand she opens the door:
Come in, Galant one, if you love me

But the beauty fell asleep 
between the arms of her lover
and he, who watched her
saw his dying eyes reflected in hers,  
 
Oh, that the stars are brilliant
and the sun is blazing;
but the beautiful eyes of my mistress
are even more charming.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by Laura Claycomb, (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 French (Français) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2011-11-24
Line count: 16
Word count: 94

Translation © by Laura Claycomb
2. J'ai descendu
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
J'ai descendu dans mon jardin (bis)
Pour y cueillir du romarin
Gentil coquelicot, Mesdames
Gentil coquelicot nouveau

J'n'en avais pas cueilli trois brins (bis)
Qu'un rossignol vint sur ma main
Gentil coquelicot, Mesdames
Gentil coquelicot nouveau

Il me dit trois mots en latin (bis)
Que les hommes ne valent rien
Gentil coquelicot Mesdames
Gentil coquelicot nouveau

Que les hommes ne valent rien (bis)
Et les garçons encore moins bien
Gentil coquelicot Mesdames
Gentil coquelicot nouveau

Des dames, il ne me dit rien (bis)
Mais des d'moiselles beaucoup de bien
Gentil coquelicot Mesdames
Gentil coquelicot nouveau

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

See other settings of this text.

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
2. I went down
Language: English 
I went down to my garden
to pick rosemary
Sweet poppy, my ladies, 
Sweet new poppy

I hadn't even picked three sprigs
when a nightingale alighted onto my hand
Sweet poppy, my ladies, 
Sweet new poppy

He said three words in Latin: 
That men aren't worth anything
Sweet poppy, my ladies, 
Sweet new poppy

That men aren't worth anything,
and young men are worth even less
Sweet poppy, my ladies, 
Sweet new poppy

Of the ladies he didn't tell me anything,
but of damsels he spoke very highly,
Sweet poppy, my ladies, 
Sweet new poppy

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by Laura Claycomb, (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 French (Français) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2011-11-24
Line count: 20
Word count: 95

Translation © by Laura Claycomb
3. Rossignol  
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
rossignolet du bois 
rossignolet sauvage
apprends-moi ton langage 
apprends-moi-z à parler
apprends-moi la manìère 
comment il faut aimer

 ... 

on m'avait dit la belle 
que vous avez des pommes
des pommes de renettes 
qui sont dans vot' jardin
permettez-moi la belle 
que j'y mette la main

non je ne permettrai pas 
que vous touchiez mes pommes
prenez d'abord la lune 
et le soleil en main
puis vous aurez les pommes 
qui sont dans mon jardin

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

See other settings of this text.

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
3. Nightingale
Language: English 
Nightingale of the woods,
Wild nightingale,
teach me your language,
teach me to speak,
teach me the way
to love, how to love

[ ... ]

No, I won't let you
touch my apples.
Take first the moon
and the sun in your hand;
then you will have the apples
that are in my garden.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by Laura Claycomb, (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 French (Français) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2011-11-24
Line count: 18
Word count: 79

Translation © by Laura Claycomb
4. Marguerite, elle est malade 
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Marguerite, elle est malade,
il lui faut (aut! aut!) le médecin!
Médecin par sa visite
Lui a de(he he)fendu le vin
Médecin, va-t'en au diable
puisque tu(u u) défend le vin
J'en ai bu toute ma vie
J'en boirai (he he) jusqu'à la fin.

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

Go to the general single-text view

from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
4. Marguerite is ill
Language: English 
Marguerite is ill, 
she needs a doctor!
The doctor says in his visit
that wine is off limits!
Doctor, go to the Devil
as long as you keep wine from me!
I've drunk all my life
I will drink until the very end!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by Laura Claycomb, (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 French (Français) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2011-11-24
Line count: 8
Word count: 43

Translation © by Laura Claycomb
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