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by Auguste Vacquerie (1819 - 1895)
Translation © by Amy Pfrimmer

Le Plongeur
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Le plongeur, sur qui la vague déferle,
m'a crié du fond des flots grondants :
« Contre Maria veux-tu cette perle ?»
Merci, fils ! j'en ai trente-deux : ses dents !

Hier la nuit brodait de soleils ses voiles,
le roi des Gypsis, montrant les cieux, m'a dit :
« Je la veux ! choisis deux étoiles »,
j'ai dit : « J'ai les deux plus belles : ses yeux !»

Elle ément la brute, et l'herbe et la pierre,
le portier du ciel m'a dit : « À mon tour, 
prends le paradis !» j'ai dit à St. Pierre :
« J'ai le paradis, puisque j'ai l'amour! »

« Tu fais bien, son ciel n'est guère enviable »,
m'a dit un Seigneur, parlant d'un ton doux ;
prends plutôt l'enfer !» J'ai dit: « Merci, diable !
j'ai l'enfer aussi, car je suis jaloux !»

Text Authorship:

  • by Auguste Vacquerie (1819 - 1895) [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 Charles Marie Jean Albert Widor (1844 - 1937), "Le Plongeur", op. 43 no. 4 [ medium voice and piano ], from Quarante mélodies, no. 22, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , "The Diver", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2018-09-24
Line count: 16
Word count: 135

The Diver
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
The diver, on whom the wave breaks, 
shouted to me from the depths of the roaring waves:
“In exchange for Maria do you want this pearl?” 
“Thank you, son! I have thirty-two: her teeth!”

Yesterday the night was embroidering its sails with suns, 
the king of the Gypsies, pointing to the heavens, said to me:
"I want her! Choose two stars,” 
I said: “I have the two most beautiful: Her eyes!”

She refused the brute, and the grass and the stone, 
the gatekeeper of heaven said to me: 
"It is my turn, take paradise!” 
I said to St. Pierre: "I have paradise, since I have love!" 

“You choose well, His heaven is hardly enviable,” 
said a lord to me, speaking in a gentle tone;
“Take hell instead!” I said, “Thank you, devil! 
I have hell too, because I am jealous!”

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Amy Pfrimmer, (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 Auguste Vacquerie (1819 - 1895)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2023-06-05
Line count: 16
Word count: 140

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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