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by Charles Cros (1842 - 1888)
Translation © by Peter Low

L'Archet
 (Sung text for setting by C. Debussy)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Elle avait de beaux cheveux, blonds
Comme une moisson d'août, si longs
Qu'ils lui tombaient jusqu'aux talons.

Elle avait une voix étrange,
Musicale, de fée ou d'ange,
Des yeux verts sous leur noire frange.

Lui, ne craignait pas de rival,
Quand il traversait mont ou val,
En l'emportant sur son cheval.

Car, pour tous ceux de la contrée,
Altière elle s'était montrée,
Jusqu'au jour où il l'eut rencontrée.

L'amour la prit si fort au cœur,
Que pour un sourire moqueur,
Il lui vint un mal de langueur.

Et dans ses dernières caresses:
Fais un archet avec mes tresses,
Pour charmer tes autres maîtresses.

Puis, dans un long baiser nerveux,
Elle mourut. Suivant ses vœux,
Il fit l'archet de ses cheveux.

 ... 

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-7 of the original text.

First published in the revue La Parodie (September, 1869), with music by Ernest Cabaner.

Composition:

    Set to music by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "L'Archet", L. 22/(46) (1881), stanzas 1-7 [ voice and piano ]

Text Authorship:

  • by Charles Cros (1842 - 1888), "L'archet", appears in Le Coffret de Santal, in Chansons perpétuelles, no. 11, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre

See other settings of this text.

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

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , "The Violin Bow", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-28
Line count: 39
Word count: 216

The Violin Bow
 (Sung text translation for setting by C. Debussy)
 See original
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
She had beautiful hair, as blond
as a harvest in August, and so long
that it hung right down to her heels.

She had a strange and musical
voice - a fairy's or an angel's -
and green eyes under their dark fringe.

As for him, he feared no rival
as he rode across hills or valleys,
carrying her on his horse.

For in everyone's view in that region 
she had appeared haughty
until the day he had met her.

Love gripped her heart so strongly
that a single mocking smile
provoked in her a painful languor.

And she said, in his final caresses:
"Make a bow of my tresses
to charm your other mistresses."

Then in a long nervous kiss,
she died. As he had vowed
he made the bow from her hair.

 ... 

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-7 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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Charles Cros (1842 - 1888), "L'archet", appears in Le Coffret de Santal, in Chansons perpétuelles, no. 11, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre
    • Go to the text page.

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This text was added to the website: 2022-08-24
Line count: 39
Word count: 249

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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

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