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by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935)
Translation © by Laura Prichard

La Romance d'Ariel
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG GER
Dans l'âme d'Ariel une musique vibre,
-- Ô Miranda! c'est la musique de ta voix, --
Qui lui donne un regret du lien d'autrefois
Et la haine de l'heure où le Duc l'a fait libre.

Il cherche un frais recoin de l'île pour s'asseoir,
Frêle esprit au milieu de la fougère frêle;
Autour de lui l'eau bleue aux arbres verts se mêle,
Et sa lente chanson s'élève avec le soir...

  » Au long de ces montagnes douces,
  Dis ! viendras-tu pas à l'appel
  De ton délicat Ariel
  Qui veloute à tes pieds les mousses ?

  » Suave Miranda, je veux
  Qu'il fasse juste assez de brise
  Pour que ce souffle tiède frise
  Les pointes d'or de tes cheveux !

  » Les clochettes des digitales
  Sur ton passage tinteront ;
  Les églantines sur ton front
  Effeuilleront leurs blancs pétales.

  » Sous le feuillage du bouleau
  Blondira ta tête bouclée ;
  Et dans le creux de la vallée
  Tu regarderas bleuir l'eau,

  » L'eau du lac lumineux ou sombre,
  Miroir changeant du ciel d'été,
  Qui sourit avec sa gaité
  Et qui s'attriste avec son ombre ;

  » Symbole, hélas! du cœur aimant,
  Où le chagrin, où le sourire
  De l'être trop aimé, se mire
  Gaiment ou douloureusement... «

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Debussy 

C. Debussy sets stanzas 3-8

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "La Romance d'Ariel", appears in Les Aveux, in Dilettantisme, in Souvenirs du Nord, no. 5 [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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "La Romance d'Ariel", L. 58/(54) (1884), stanzas 3-8 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) [singable] (Núria Colomer) , "La Romànica d'Ariel", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Ariel's Romance", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Michael Rapke) , "Ariels Romanze", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-05
Line count: 32
Word count: 198

Ariel's Romance
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
In Ariel’s soul music vibrates,
-- Oh Miranda! it’s the music of her voice, —
Which causes him regret from past memories
And hatred of the hour when the Duke let her go.

He seeks a cool corner of the island to relax,
[A] frail disembodied spirit amid the fragile ferns;
Around him, blue water mixes with green trees,
and her languid song lifts itself with the evening [breeze]...

  “Along these gentle mountains,
  Say! won’t you come to the call
  On the delicate Ariel
  Who smoothes the moss for your feet?

  “Sweet Miranda, I wish
  There’d be just enough breeze
  For this mild wind to curl
  The golden tips of your hair!

  “The little bells of the foxgloves
  Will sound at your passing;
  The wild roses above your head
  Will shed their white petals.

  “Under the birch’s foliage
  Your curls will seem fairer;
  And in the hollow of the valley
  You’ll watch the water turn blue,

  “The lake’s luminous or dark water,
  Changing mirror of the summer sky,
  Which smiles in its mirth
  And which grieves when shadowed;

  “Token, alas! of a loving heart,
  Where the sorrow, or the smile
  Of the best beloved, mirrors
  Gaily or painfully…” 

Translator's note for stanza 4, line 3 ("mild"): literally, lukewarm or tepid


Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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) by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "La Romance d'Ariel", appears in Les Aveux, in Dilettantisme, in Souvenirs du Nord, no. 5
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-01-01
Line count: 32
Word count: 197

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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

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