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Des vallons de Bourgogne, ô toi, fille limpide, Qui pares de raisins ton front pur et liquide, Belle Seine, à pas lents, de ton berceau sacré Descends, tandis qu'assise en cet antre azuré, D'un vers syracusain la muse de Mantoue Fait résonner ton onde où le cygne se joue.
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Confirmed with Œuvres poétiques de André Chénier, Nouvelle édition, Paris, E. Dentu, 1885, page 82.
Text Authorship:
- by André Chénier (1762 - 1794), no title, appears in Bucoliques. Idylles et fragments d'idylles [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 André-Marie Cuvelier (d. 1947), "À la Seine", 1950 [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons pour Hélène, 13ème recueil, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Albéric Magnard (1865 - 1914), "Des vallons de Bourgogne (Bucoliques, fragment XXIII)", op. 22 no. 3 (1913-1914) [ voice and piano ], from Douze poèmes en musique, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2016-05-27
Line count: 6
Word count: 49
From the valleys of Burgundy, oh, you limpid daughter [of France], Who, with grapes, crowns your pure, liquid brow, Beautiful Seine, with slow progress, from your sacred springs Descend, whilst searching out this cool azure shade. With verse from Syracuse, the Muse of Mantua’s voice Resonates in your waves, where swans play.
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Translator's notes:
Line 1, "valleys" : The poet André Chenier was a devoted student of classical verse, and this poem makes several references to Virgil’s Eclogues. Those ten pastoral poems are set in the valleys of Arcadia, an idealized land sung into existence by poetry (based on the Mantuan river valley where Virgil grew up) where people live in harmony with nature.
Line 2, "crowns" : “As to the trees, the vine is crown of glory, as to vines, the grape.” (Eclogues 5)
Line 4, "shade" : “Here, amid familiar brooks and sacred springs, you’ll search out cool, refreshing shade.” (Ecologues 1:51-52).
Line 5, "Syracuse" : In the first couplet of Eclogue 6, the speaker refers to the Muse of comedy and good cheer (“...my Muse - for Thalia first approved of verse from Syracuse.” 6:1-2).
Line 6, "swans" : Mantua was known for the swans that flocked to its surrounding lakes (Eclogues 9).
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2024 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 André Chénier (1762 - 1794), no title, appears in Bucoliques. Idylles et fragments d'idylles
This text was added to the website: 2024-02-11
Line count: 6
Word count: 52