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Dans la feuillée, écrin vert taché d'or, dans la feuillée incertaine et fleurie de fleurs splendides où le baiser dort, vif et crevant l'exquise broderie, Un faune effaré montre ses deux yeux el mord les fleurs rouges de ses dents blanches. Brunie et sanglante ainsi qu'un vin vieux sa lèvre éclate en rires sous les branches. Et quand il a fui -- tel qu'un écureuil -- son rire tremble encore à chaque feuille, et l'on voit épeuré par un bouvreuil le Baiser d'or du Bois, qui se recueille.
Text Authorship:
- by Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "Tête de faune", written 1870-1871, appears in Poésies, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1929 [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 Hendrik Andriessen (1892 - 1981), "Tête de faune", 1935 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from Trois pastorales, no. 1, Utrecht (Hollande), Éd. J.R. Van Rossum [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Rudolf) Walther Hirschberg (1889 - 1960), "Tête de faune" [ high voice and piano ], from 12 Mélodies, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean Rivier (1896 - 1987), "Tête de faune", 1935, published 1959 [ high voice and piano ], from Deux poèmes de Rimbaud et deux poèmes d'Apollinaire, no. 2, Éd. SEMI [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre-E.-L. Rousseau (1889 - 1939), as Pierre Vellones, "Tête de Faune", op. 35 no. 1 (1930), published 1972 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois Poèmes sur la Nature, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rudi Spring (1962 - 2025), "Tête de faune", op. 96 no. 2 (2018) [ baritone and piano ], from Livre de Mélodies Françaises, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "The Head of a Faun", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: John Versmoren
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 86
Within the grove, green treasure box flecked with gold, Within the dim grove, and foliated With dazzling flowers where a kiss slumbers, Vivid and piercing the exquisite embroidery, A timid faun raises his two eyes, Chewing red flowers with his white teeth. Browned and bloodied like aged wine His lips burst with laughter beneath the branches. And after he has fled -- like a squirrel – His laughter still trembles on each leaf, And one sees, disturbed by a bullfinch, The golden kiss of the wood restoring itself.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "Tête de faune", written 1870-1871, appears in Poésies, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1929
This text was added to the website: 2022-09-05
Line count: 12
Word count: 87