LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,133)
  • Text Authors (19,544)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation © by Peter Low

Maman, dites‑moi
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Maman, dites-moi ce qu'on sent quand on aime,
Est-ce plaisir, est-ce tourment ?
Je suis tout le jour dans une peine extrême,
Et la nuit je ne sais comment
Quel mal peut nous causer un amant ?
Si quelqu'un près de nous soupire?
Que faut-il lui dire ?

Un berger bien fait, plus beau que l'amour,
Vint d'un air discret me jurer l'autre jour
Qu'il m'aimait bien
Je ne dis rien, je ne dis rien,
Mais s'il revient encore m'en dire autant,
Que faire alors, maman ?
Que faire alors, maman ?

C'est le berger le plus parfait du village,
Tout ce qu'il dit, tout ce qu'il fait,
Est si séduisant, que sans peine on s'engage,
Tant il a de charmes, d'attraits.
Quel mal nous peut causer un amant ?
Si près de nous son cœur soupire,
Que faut-il lui dire ?

Ce berger charmant plus beau que l'amour,
D'un air bien discret m'a juré l'autre jour
Qu'il m'aimait bien.
Je ne dis rien, je ne dis rien
Mais s'il revient encore m'en dire autant
Que faire alors, maman ?
Que faire alors, maman ?

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Jean-Baptiste Théodore Weckerlin (1821 - 1910), "Maman, dites-moi", published 1913 [ medium voice and piano ], from Bergerettes, Romances et chansons du XVIIIè siècle harmonisées par J.B. Weckerlin, no. 10, Schirmer [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , "Mother, tell me", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2022-04-22
Line count: 28
Word count: 176

Mother, tell me
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Mother, tell me what one feels when one loves.
Is it pleasure? Is it torment?
All day long I'm in extreme pain,
and at night I'm in total confusion.
What hurt can a lover cause us?
If someone near to us sighs,
what should be said to him?

A well-built shepherd, more handsome than love
came discreetly the other day 
and swore that he loved me well.
I said nothing, I said nothing.
But if he comes again and says the same,
what should I do then, mother?
what should I do?

He's the most perfect shepherd in the village.
Everything he says, everything he does,
is so seductive that one is easily drawn to him
by his many charms and attractions.
What hurt can a lover cause us?
If near to us he sighs and sighs,
what should be said to him?

This charming shepherd more beautiful than love
discreetly swore the other day 
that he loved me well.
I said nothing, I said nothing.
But if he comes again and says the same,
what should I do then, mother?
what should I do?

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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 Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2022-05-02
Line count: 28
Word count: 185

Gentle Reminder

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

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris