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À quoi, dans ce matin d'avril, Si douce et d'ombre enveloppée, La chère enfant au cœur subtil Est-elle ainsi tout occupée ? La trace blonde de ses pas Se perd parmi les grilles closes ; Je ne sais pas, je ne sais pas. Ce sont d'impénétrables choses. Pensivement, d'un geste lent, En longue robe, en robe a queue, Sur le soleil au rouet blanc A filer la laine bleue. A sourire à son rêve encor, Avec ses yeux de fiancée, A tresser des feuillages d'or Parmi les lys de sa pensée.
G. Fauré sets stanzas 1, 3-4
Text Authorship:
- by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), "Dans la pénombre", written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 9, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Dans la pénombre", op. 106 no. 6 (1914), published 1915, stanzas 1,3-4 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le jardin clos, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "A la penombra", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pieter van der Woel) , "In het halfdonker nog", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "In the Shadows", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Im Zwielicht", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Didier Pelat
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 89
And what, on this April morning, so soft and shadowy, is this child with the far-seeing heart doing so busily? Thoughtfully, slowly, in her long dress, she's spinning in the sunshine on a white spindle blue wool She smiles as she dreams of her betrothed, braiding golden leaves among the lilies of her thoughts.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Faith J. Cormier, (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.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), "Dans la pénombre", written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 9, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 54