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En chantant les servantes s’élancent Pour rafraîchir la place où l’on tuait Petites filles en poudre vite agenouillées Leurs mains aux soupiraux de la fraîcheur Sont bleues comme une expérience Un grand matin joyeux Faites face à leurs mains les morts Faites face à leurs yeux liquides C’est la toilette des éphémères La dernière toilette de la vie Les pierres descendent disparaissent Dans l’eau vaste essentielle La dernière toilette des heures A peine un souvenir ému Aux puits taris de la vertu Aux longues absences encombrantes Et l’on s’abandonne à la chair très tendre Aux prestiges de la faiblesse.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Page 1062.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Le rôle des femmes" [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 Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "En chantant les servantes s’élancent", FP 120 no. 2 (1943), first performed 1946 [ chorus ], from cantata Figure humaine, no. 2, Éditions Salabert [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Cantant les criades s'abalancen", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2021-01-22
Line count: 18
Word count: 99
Cantant les criades s'abalancen a refrescar la plaça on es matava nenes amb coloret de seguida agenollades les seves mans als respiralls de la frescor són blaves com una experiència una gran joiosa matinada mireu les seves mans els morts mireu els seus ulls líquids és la toaleta dels efímers l'ablució final de la vida les pedres davallen desapareixen en l'aigua vasta essencial l'ablució final de les hores a penes un record commòs als pous secs de la virtut a les llargues absències que fan nosa i ens rendim a la carn ben tendra a les seduccions de la feblesa.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2026 by Salvador Pila, (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 Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Le rôle des femmes"
This text was added to the website: 2026-05-02
Line count: 18
Word count: 100