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by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs
Translation by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920)

Chanson
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER
Le premier me donna un collier,
un collier de perles qui vaut une ville,
avec les palais et les temples, 
et les trésors et les esclaves.

Le second fit pour moi des vers.
Il disait que mes cheveux sont noirs 
comme ceux de la [nuit sur la mer]1
et mes yeux bleus comme ceux du matin. 

Le troisième était si beau que sa mère
ne l'embrassait pas sans rougir.
Il mit ses mains sur mes genoux,
et ses lèvres sur mon pied nu.

Toi, tu ne m'as rien dit.
Tu ne m'as rien donné, car tu est pauvre.
Et tu n'est pas beau, mais c'est toi que j'aime.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   Uddén 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Uddén: "nuit"

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Chanson", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Épigrammes dans l'Île de Chypre, no. 136 [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 Georges Dandelot (1895 - 1975), "Chanson", 1929, published 1931, first performed 1930 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq Chansons de Bilitis, 2ème recueil, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Åke Uddén (1903 - 1987), "Chanson", 1945 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Song", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Lied", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel) , "Die Umworbene"


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 109

Die Umworbene
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the French (Français) 
Der erste hat mir einen Schmuck geschenkt,
einen Schmuck aus Perlen, der eine kleine Stadt wert ist,
samt den Denkmälern und der Kirche,
dem Rathaus und der Steuerkasse.

Der Zweite hat mir Verse gemacht.
Er hat gesagt, ich sei viel holder
als eine Seerose im Morgenrot
und scheuer als der Abendwind.

Der Dritte war so schön,
daß seine Schwester sich umgebracht hat,
weil er sie nicht mehr küssen wollte.
Ich hätt ihm nur zu winken brauchen.

Du, du hast mir nichts gesagt.
Du hast mir nichts geschenkt, denn du bist arm.
Aber dich liebe ich.

Confirmed with Richard Dehmel, Gesammelte Werke in drei Bänden, Band 1, S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1920, pages 22-23.


Text Authorship:

  • by Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (1863 - 1920), "Die Umworbene" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Chanson", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Épigrammes dans l'Île de Chypre, no. 136
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2024-02-04
Line count: 15
Word count: 95

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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!
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