Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Celui qui doit mourir ce soir dans les tranchées C'est un petit soldat dont l'oeil indolemment Observe tout le jour aux créneaux de ciment Les Gloires qui de nuit y furent accrochées Celui qui doit mourir ce soir dans les tranchées C'est un petit soldat mon frère et mon amant Et puisqu'il doit mourir je veux me faire belle Je veux de mes seins nus allumer les flambeaux Je veux de mes grands yeux fondre l'étang qui gèle Et mes hanches je veux qu'elles soient des tombeaux Car puisqu'il doit mourir je veux me faire belle Dans l'inceste et la mort ces deux gestes si beaux Les vaches du couchant meuglent toutes leurs roses L'aile de l'oiseau bleu m'évente doucement C'est l'heure de l Amour aux ardentes névroses C'est l'heure de la Mort et du dernier serment Celui qui doit périr comme meurent les roses C'est un petit soldat mon frère et mon amant
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, no title, appears in Les attentives, no. 1 [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 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), "Les attentives I", op. 135 no. 5, from Symphony no. 14, no. 5, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Mikhail Pavlovich Kudinov (1922 - 1994) , copyright © ; composed by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "En guàrdia", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Salvador Pila) , "On guard", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: John Versmoren , Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 154
The one that must die this evening in the trenches is a young soldier who, all day long, stares idly at the concrete battlements where the night's glories were hung. The one that must die this evening in the trenches is a young soldier, my brother and my lover. And since he must die I want to make myself beautiful; I want my naked breasts to light the torches, I want my big eyes to melt the pond that freezes. And my hips, I want them to be the tombs for, since he must die, I want to make myself beautiful in both incest and death, these two magnificent deeds. The cows at sunset low all their roses, the bluebird's wing fans me softly. It is the hour of Love, of ardent neuroses. It is the hour of Death and of the final promise. The one that must perish, just as the roses die, is a young soldier, my brother and my lover.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, no title, appears in Les attentives, no. 1
This text was added to the website: 2011-05-22
Line count: 18
Word count: 163