Der Delphin | Delphine - tummelt spielend euch im Meer

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by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Le Dauphin

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG GER ITA

Dauphins, vous jouez dans la mer, 
Mais le flot est toujours amer. 
Parfois, ma joie éclate-t-elle? 
La vie est encore cruelle.

Text Authorship:

by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "Le Dauphin", written 1910, appears in Le Bestiaire, ou Cortège d'Orphée, no. 19, first published 1911 [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 Ballif (1924 - 2004), "Le Dauphin", op. 1b no. 19 (1945-48), published 1994 [ voice and piano ], from Le Cortège d’Orphée, no. 19, Édition Durand & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "Le Dauphin", op. 17a no. 19 (1919), from Le Bestiaire, no. 19 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Le Dauphin", FP 15a no. 4 (1919), published 1920 [ medium voice and orchestra or piano ], from Le Bestiaire ou cortège d'Orphée, no. 4, Éd. de La Sirène [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El dofí", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "The dolphin", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Delphin", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Il delfino", copyright © 2010, (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: 4
Word count: 21

Der Delphin

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

Delphine - tummelt spielend euch im Meer,
aber die Flut kommt bitter stets daher.
Vor Freude könnt’ ich manchmal schweben -
doch bitter zeigt sich dann das Leben.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2017 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 Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "Le Dauphin", written 1910, appears in Le Bestiaire, ou Cortège d'Orphée, no. 19, first published 1911
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-10
Line count: 4
Word count: 26