One little reed was enough for me

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by Henri Francois-Joseph de Régnier (1864 - 1936)

Translation © by Peter Low

Un petit roseau m'a suffi

(Sung text for setting by J. Ropartz)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Un petit roseau m'a suffi
Pour faire frémir l'herbe haute
Et tout le pré
Et les doux saules
Et le ruisseau qui chante aussi ;
Un petit roseau m'a suffi
A faire chanter la forêt.

 ... 

Il m'a suffi
De ce petit roseau cueilli
A la fontaine où vint l'Amour
Mirer un jour
Sa face grave
Et qui pleurait,
Pour faire pleurer ceux qui passent
Et trembler l'herbe et frémir l'eau ;
Et j'ai, du souffle d'un roseau,
Fait chanter toute la forêt.

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

Composition:

Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz

Quatre Odelettes

Text Authorship:

by Henri Francois-Joseph de Régnier (1864 - 1936), "Odelette I", written 1897, appears in Les jeux rustiques et divins, in 4. La corbeille des heures, no. 3, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-05
Line count: 26
Word count: 122

One little reed was enough for me

(Sung text translation for setting by J. Ropartz)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

One little reed was enough for me
to make the long grass quiver
and the whole meadow
and the gentle willows
and the stream that also sings.
One little reed was enough for me
to make the forest sing.

 ... 

This little reed, 
which I picked 
by the pool where Love came
one day to gaze at
his solemn face,
his weeping face,
was enough to make the passers-by weep
and the grass tremble and the water quiver.
And I, with the breath of one reed,
made the whole forest sing.

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

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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 Henri Francois-Joseph de Régnier (1864 - 1936), "Odelette I", written 1897, appears in Les jeux rustiques et divins, in 4. La corbeille des heures, no. 3, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897
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This text was added to the website: 2022-06-16
Line count: 26
Word count: 134