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À quoi, dans ce matin d'avril, Si douce et d'ombre enveloppée, La chère enfant au cœur subtil Est-elle ainsi tout occupée ? La trace blonde de ses pas Se perd parmi les grilles closes ; Je ne sais pas, je ne sais pas. Ce sont d'impénétrables choses. Pensivement, d'un geste lent, En longue robe, en robe a queue, Sur le soleil au rouet blanc A filer la laine bleue. A sourire à son rêve encor, Avec ses yeux de fiancée, A tresser des feuillages d'or Parmi les lys de sa pensée.
G. Fauré sets stanzas 1, 3-4
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), "Dans la pénombre", written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 9, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Dans la pénombre", op. 106 no. 6 (1914), published 1915, stanzas 1,3-4 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le jardin clos, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A la penombra", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pieter van der Woel) , "In het halfdonker nog", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "In the Shadows", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Im Zwielicht", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Didier Pelat
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 89
Worin ist dies sanftmütig liebe Kind vertieft an diesem Morgen im April, so lieblich und umhüllt von Schatten? Ihrer Schritte blonde Spur verliert sich zwischen Gittertoren. Ich weiß nicht wo und wie. Es ist das Unergründliche. Besinnlich und bedächtig, in langem, fließendem Gewand spinnt auf der Sonne weißem Spinnrad sie die blaue Wolle. Noch lächelt sie über ihren Traum mit dem Blicke der Verlobten, und flicht gold’ne Blätter zwischen Lilien ihres Sinnens.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), "Dans la pénombre", written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 9, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898
This text was added to the website: 2015-02-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 72