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Des aloès et des mésanges en costume de dimanche. Les anges aux grosses ailes volent autour de la tour Eiffel. Le dirigeable RÉPUBLIQUE Le nègre jouait de la pipe Sur la Butte fumant sa flûte L'autre s'appelait Jean-Jacques Biplan soleil cloches de Pâques Ce fut une belle Liberté. On y voyait toutes les bêtes de la jungle et de la cité. Un lion et un cheval blanc et tous les deux très ressemblants. La mésange disait: "Vive la République!"
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Text Authorship:
- by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), "Portrait d'Henri Rousseau", written 1917?, appears in Embarcadères [author's text not yet checked 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 Georges Auric (1899 - 1983), "Portrait d'Henri Rousseau", 1918, published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Huit poèmes de Jean Cocteau, no. 8, Paris, E. Demets [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Portrait of Henri Rousseau", 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: 15
Word count: 79
Aloes and sparrows wearing their Sunday best. The angels with big wings fly around the Eiffel Tower. The dirigible RÉPUBLIQUE The black man was playing the pipe On the Butte smoking his flute The other called himself Jean-Jacques Biplane sun Easter chimes It was a beautiful Liberty. There one could see all the beasts of the jungle and of the city. A lion and a white horse and they both looked like each other. The sparrow said: “Long live the Republic!”
Line 2-1: "angels with big wings" - i.e., biplanes
Line 3-3: "Butte" - the hilly area on Montmatre, in the north central section of Paris
Line 4-1: a reference to the end of World War I
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 Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), "Portrait d'Henri Rousseau", written 1917?, appears in Embarcadères
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 15
Word count: 81