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Je ne veux qu'une seule leçon, c'est la tienne, fontaine, qui en toi-même retombes _ [celle des eaux risquées]1 auxquelles incombe ce céleste retour vers la vie terrienne. Autant que ton multiple murmure rien ne saurait me servir d'exemple; toi, ô colonne légère du temple qui se détruit par sa propre nature. Dans ta chute, combien se module chaque jet d'eau qui termine sa danse. Je me sens l'élève, l'émule de ton innombrable nuance! Mais ce qui plus que ton chant vers toi me décide c'est cet instant de silence en délire lorsqu'à la nuit, à travers ton élan liquide passe ton propre retour qu'un souffle retire.
1 Durey: "celles de tes eaux risquées"
Text Authorship:
- by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "La fontaine", written 1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 26 [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 Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "La fontaine", op. 42 no. 7 (1932), published 1966 [ high voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 7, Éd. Le Chant du Monde [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "La fontaine", op. 21 no. 8 (1986) [ medium voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "The fountain", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 108
I only want to learn one lesson, it’s yours fountain, who fall back onto yourself _ [with] those hazardous waters which were responsible for your celestial return to earthly life. Nothing so much as your multiple murmurings could serve as an example for me; you, lighted column of the temple, that destroys itself by its own nature. In your fall, how do you modulate each jet so that it ends in a dance? I feel like [your] student, the emulator of your countless nuances! But, more than your song, what draws me to you is that instant of silence in delirium during the night, [when] passing through your own liquid you return, [as if] drawn back by a breath.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Stanfield 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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "La fontaine", written 1924, appears in Poèmes français, in 1. Vergers, no. 26
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 119