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The King's three blind daughters Sit locked in a hold. In the darkness their lamps Make a glimmer of gold. Up the stair of the turret The sisters are gone, Seven days they wait there And the lamps they burn on. "What hope?" says the first, And leans o'er the flame. "I hear our lamps burning. O yet! if he came!" "O hope!" says the second, "Was that the lamps' flare, Or a sound of low footsteps? The Prince on the stair!" But the holiest sister She turns her about: "O no hope now for ever, Our lamps are gone out!"
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945) [an adaptation] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), no title, written 1893, appears in Quinze Chansons, no. 5
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Melisande's song", op. 80, orchestrated 1898 by Charles Koechlin, from the a play - incidental music Pelléas et Mélisande [ sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Vyacheslav Karatygin (1875 - 1925) ENG SWE ; composed by Boleslav Leopoldovitch Yavorsky.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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- Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Bertel Gripenberg (1878 - 1947) ENG FIN ; composed by Jean Sibelius.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Melisandes Lied", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2005-03-01
Line count: 20
Word count: 101
Des Königs drei Töchter,
gefangen und blind,
der Schein ihrer Lampen
das Dunkel durchdringt.
So steigen im Burgturm
die Stufen sie hoch,
sieben Tage am warten -
ihr Licht leuchtet noch.
Voll Hoffnung die erste
zur Flamme sich neigt.
Ich höre sie brennen,
ach , träf' er bald ein!
Ist's das Flackern der Flamme,
ist's des Prinzen Schritt?
Die zweite der Schwestern
fragt's und hofft mit.
Die Frömmste der Dreien
erkennt es mit Graus:
Die Hoffnung erloschen,
die Lampen sind aus.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2005 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
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Based on:
- a text in English by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945) [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), no title, written 1893, appears in Quinze Chansons, no. 5
This text was added to the website: 2005-03-01
Line count: 20
Word count: 81