LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,935)
  • Text Authors (20,954)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,133)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

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.

by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translation © by Pablo Sabat

La captive
 (Sung text for setting by B. Godard)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG SPA
Si je n'étais captive,
J'aimerais ce pays,
Et cette mer plaintive,
Et ces champs de maïs,
Et ces astres sans nombre,
Si le long du mur sombre
N'étincelait dans l'ombre
Le sabre des spahis.

Je ne suis point tartare
Pour qu'un eunuque noir
M'accorde ma guitare,
Me tienne mon miroir.
Bien loin de ces Sodomes,
Au pays dont nous sommes,
Avec les jeunes hommes
On peut parler le soir.

Pourtant j'aime une rive
Où jamais des hivers
Le souffle froid n'arrive
Par les vitraux ouverts.
L'été, la pluie est chaude,
L'insecte verte qui rôde
Luit, vivant émeraude,
Sous les brins d'herbe verts.

 ... 

Mais surtout, quand la brise
Me touche en voltigeant,
La nuit, j'aime être assise,
Être assise en songeant,
L'œil sur la mer profonde,
Tandis que, pâle et blonde,
La lune ouvre dans l'onde
Son éventail d'argent.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-3,9 of the original text.

Composition:

    Set to music by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "La captive", stanzas 1-3,9 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 9, Choudens

Text Authorship:

  • by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "La captive", appears in Les Orientales, no. 9

See other settings of this text.

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

  • ENG English (Korin Kormick) , "The captive", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 72
Word count: 301

La cautiva
 (Sung text translation for setting by B. Godard)
 See original
Language: Spanish (Español)  after the French (Français) 
Si yo no estuviera cautiva,
Amaría este país,
Y su doliente mar,
Y estos campos de maíz,
Y estas estrellas incontables,
Si a lo largo del oscuro muro
No brillara
El sable de los Spahis.

No soy un tártaro
Como para que un eunuco negro
Afine mi guitarra,
Me acerque mi espejo.
Lejos de estas Sodomas,
En el país donde estamos
Con hombres jóvenes
Se puede conversar al atardecer.

Sin embargo, me gusta un río
Donde el aliento frío
De los inviernos 
nunca llega.
En verano, la lluvia es tibia,
El verde insecto que merodea,
Reluce, una esmeralda viva,
Bajo las hojas de la hierba verde.

 ... 

Pero especialmente, cuando la brisa
Me toca mientras aletea alrededor
En la noche, me gusta sentarme,
Sentarme mientras sueño,
La mirada en el mar profundo,
Mientras que, pálida y rubia,
la luna abre sobre las olas
Su abanico de plata.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-3,9 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to Spanish (Español) copyright © 2019 by Pablo Sabat, (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 Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "La captive", appears in Les Orientales, no. 9
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2019-12-08
Line count: 72
Word count: 146

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2026 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris