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.
Mademoiselle, Je prends la plume pour vous donner des nouvelles Du jardin. Il est très joli en ce moment. Si vous venez à Pâques où plus tard qu'au printemps Vous le verrez. Il s'est levé ce matin Tout mouillé de votre souvenir. Il y a tout plein Des fleurs que vous m'avez recommandées : Le tissu provincial des pensées, Des pains de roses tout partout, La cendre effritée des lilas, si pimpante, Et les glycines au corps mou Que vous nommez : fleurs flottantes, Les œillets machurés pour vos mains sensuelles, Les tulipes de cire et l'œuf creux des magnolias, Un seul soleil ouvert, pareil à votre ombrelle, Le rayon de miel rouge du dahlia, Le lys paralysé qui meurt devant la porte, Et, dans la prairie, en récréation, par intervalle, Les cent mille demoiselles marguerites aux joues pâles... Il y a des fleurs et des fleurs de toutes sortes ! Depuis les mouches bleues qu'on appelle myosotis Jusqu'aux papillons roses des pêchers. Les iris Et les glaïeuls donnent cette année et font Des fusées et des fuseaux, de-ci de-là, à profusion. Mais tout cela s'ennuie après mademoiselle, Et bien qu'il ait fait beau depuis la dernière Noël, La joie attends que vous veniez, pour y venir. D`'où la mélancolie qu'ici nous avons tous ! Pour un arbre sans nid, pour le jardin sans vous. Croyez, Mademoiselle, à tous mes souvenirs.
Confirmed with Henry Bataille, Le beau voyage : poésies, Bibliothèque-Charpentier, Eugène Fasquelle, éditeur (Paris) 1904
Text Authorship:
- by Henry Bataille (1872 - 1922), "La Lettre du jardinier", written 1895, appears in La chambre blanche, appears in Le beau voyage, in Et voici le Jardin..., no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1895 [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 Louis-Charles-Bonaventure-Alfred Bruneau (1857 - 1934), "La lettre du jardinier", published 1913 [ medium voice and piano ], from Les chants de la vie, no. 12, Éd. Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcel-Lucien Tournier (1879 - 1951), "La Lettre du jardinier" [ soprano, harp ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , "The Gardener's Letter", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , David Jonathan Justman , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2004-12-28
Line count: 30
Word count: 234
Mademoiselle, I'm taking up the pen to give you news of the garden. It's very pretty right now. If you come at Easter or later, as in the Spring, you will see it. It got up this morning All damp with your memory. It's full of flowers which you recommended to me: The provincial cloth of thoughts rose breads everywhere The powdered ash of the lilacs, so graceful And the wisterias with soft bodies which you call floating flowers ... ... ... ... The paralyzed lily dying before my door. ... ... There are flowers and flowers of all sorts! From the blue flies which are called forget-me-nots To the pink butterflies of sins. The irises and gladioli are bearing this year and give forth rockets and spindles from here, from there, in profusion. But all of this is bored and longing for Mademoiselle, And even though the weather's been good since last Christmas, Joy is waiting to come until you do. God, the melancholy which all of us here feel! For a tree without a nest, for the garden without you. Mademoiselle, believe in all of my memories.
Note: this is a translation of Tournier's version.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by David Jonathan Justman, (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 Henry Bataille (1872 - 1922), "La Lettre du jardinier", written 1895, appears in La chambre blanche, appears in Le beau voyage, in Et voici le Jardin..., no. 10, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1895
This text was added to the website: 2004-12-28
Line count: 30
Word count: 185