Im Zwielicht | Worin ist dies sanftmütig liebe Kind vertieft

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by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Dans la pénombre

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG GER

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.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Fauré

G. Fauré sets stanzas 1, 3-4

Confirmed with van Lerberghe, Charles, Entrevisions, suivi de Poèmes posthumes, Paris, G. Crès, 1923, pages 24-25.

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

Im Zwielicht

Language: German (Deutsch) after the French (Français)

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
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-14
Line count: 16
Word count: 72