Tout près du lac filtre une source,
Entre deux pierres, dans un coin ;
Allègrement l'eau prend sa course
Comme pour s'en aller bien loin.

Elle murmure : « Oh ! quelle joie !
Sous la terre il faisait si noir !
Maintenant ma rive verdoie,
Le ciel se mire à mon miroir.

« Les myosotis aux fleurs bleues
Me disent : ‹ Ne m'oubliez pas ! ›
Les libellules de leurs queues
M'égratignent dans leurs ébats ;

« À ma coupe l'oiseau s'abreuve...
Qui sait ? après quelques détours
Peut-être deviendrai-je un fleuve
Baignant vallons, rochers et tours.

« Je broderai de mon écume
Ponts de pierre, quais de granit,
Emportant le steamer qui fume
À l'Océan où tout finit. »

Ainsi la jeune source jase,
Formant cent projets d'avenir ;
Comme l'eau qui bout dans un vase,
Son flot ne peut se contenir ;

Mais le berceau touche à la tombe,
Le géant futur meurt petit ;
Née à peine, la source tombe
Dans le grand lac qui l'engloutit !

L. Bruneau sets stanzas 1-3, 5, 7

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes
First published in the journal L'Artiste, May 30, 1858.

Text Authorship:

• by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "La source", appears in Émaux et Camées, first published 1863 [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 Tony Aubin (1907 - 1981), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, 2-part women's chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Claude Augé (1854 - 1924), "La source", published 1892 [ voice, unaccompanied ], from Les chants de l'enfance, Paris, Librairie Labrousse [sung text not yet checked]
• by Elsa Barraine (1910 - 1999), "La source", 1929, published 1931 [ soprano, 2-part women's chorus, and orchestra ], Paris, Enoch [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louis-Charles-Bonaventure-Alfred Bruneau (1857 - 1934), "La source", published 1932, copyright © 1933, stanzas 1-3,5,7 [ high voice and piano ], from Plein Air, dix poèmes [de Théophile Gautier], no. 2, Paris, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sylvère Caffot (1903 - 1993), as René Sylviano, "La source", <<1929 [ four-part women's chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Auguste Chapuis (1858 - 1933), "La source", published 1898 [ three-part chorus a cappella ], Paris, Durand [sung text not yet checked]
• by Marcel Dautremer (1906 - 1978), "La source", <<1929 [ four-part mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Yvonne Desportes (1907 - 1993), "La source", <<1929 [ four-part mixed chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gaston Doin (1878 - 1962), "La source", published 1951 [ voice and piano ], from Quelques émaux et camées, no. 4, Paris, A. Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jacques Dupont, dit Jacque-Dupont (1906 - 1985), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, 2-part women's chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Georges Favre (1905 - 1993), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, contralto, SATB chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865 - 1950), "La petite source", op. 77 (c1891), published 1905 [ vocal duet or 2-part chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louise-Marie Simon (1903 - 1990), as Claude Arrieu, "La source", 1929 [ soprano, three-part chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Marc Vaubourgouin (1907 - 1983), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, mixed chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Gyula Vargha) , "A forrás"
• RUS Russian (Русский) (Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov) , "Ключ ", first published 1914

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-04-02
Line count: 28
Word count: 161