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Bûcheron Abats mon ombre Délivre moi du supplice De me voir sans oranges Pourquoi suis-je né entre des miroirs Le jour me fait tourner et la nuit me copie dans toutes ses étoiles Je veux vivre sans me voir Les fourmis et les liserons Je rêverai que ce sont mes feuilles et mes oiseaux Bûcheron Abats mon ombre Délivre moi du supplice De me voir sans oranges
Text Authorship:
- by Félix Gattegno (flourished c1941-1946) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Spanish (Español) by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936), "Canción del naranjo seco", appears in Canciones, in Canciones para terminar, first published 1921-4
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Chanson de l'oranger sec", FP 136 no. 3 (1947), published 1947 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois Chansons de F. Garcia-Lorca, no. 3, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by William Stanley Merwin (b. 1927) , copyright © ; composed by Alvin Brehm.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Song of the barren orange tree", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 67
Woodcutter Chop down my shadow. Deliver me from the torment of seeing myself without oranges. Why was I born between mirrors? Day turns me around slowly and night copies my movements with all of its stars. I want to live without seeing myself. The ants and the bindweed, I’ll dream they are my leaves and my birds. Woodcutter Chop down my shadow. Deliver me from the torment of seeing myself without oranges.
Translator's notes
Line 2-2: "Day" - i.e., sunlight; "turns" - to turn, attracted by light, in the manner of a plant following the course of the sun in the sky
Line 3-1: "ants" - the French “fourmis” also suggests the expression “pins and needles”
Line 3-1: "bindweed" - trailing vine-like plants with purple or white funnel-shaped flowers, of the genera Calystegia and Convolvulus
Line 3-4 : "leaves" - also, blank sheets of papaer (in both Spanish and French)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 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 Félix Gattegno (flourished c1941-1946)
Based on:
- a text in Spanish (Español) by Federico García Lorca (1898 - 1936), "Canción del naranjo seco", appears in Canciones, in Canciones para terminar, first published 1921-4
This text was added to the website: 2019-12-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 73