LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,111)
  • Text Authors (19,486)
  • 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 (1,114)
  • 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 Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs
Translation © by Peter Low

La flûte de Pan
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER GER ITA
Pour le jour des Hyacinthies,
il m'a donné une syrinx faite
de roseaux bien taillés,
unis avec la blanche cire
qui est douce à mes lèvres comme le miel.

Il m'apprend à jouer, assise sur ses genoux ;
mais je suis un peu tremblante.
il en joue après moi, 
si doucement que je l'entends à peine.

Nous n'avons rien à nous dire,
tant nous sommes près l'un de l'autre;
mais nos chansons veulent se répondre,
et tour à tour nos bouches
s'unissent sur la flûte.

Il est tard, 
voici le chant des grenouilles vertes
qui commence avec la nuit.
Ma mère ne croira jamais
que je suis restée si longtemps
à chercher ma ceinture perdue.

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "La Flûte de Pan", written 1894, appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 30, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897 [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 Jean-René Buvat (1897 - 1953), "La Flûte de Pan" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by André-Marie Cuvelier , "La flûte de Pan", 1928 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, 2ème recueil, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "La flûte de Pan", L. 97/(90) no. 1 (1897-8) [ voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Alina Piechowska-Pascal (b. 1937), "La flûte de Pan", published 1977 [ high voice and piano ], from Chants de Bilitis, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Aimée Strohl (1865 - 1941), "La flûte de Pan", published 1900 [ high voice and piano ], from Bilitis, Poème en 12 chants, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Toledo & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , "The pan-pipes", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Pans Flöte", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die Panflöte", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Il flauto di Pan", copyright © 2005, (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: 20
Word count: 114

The pan‑pipes
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
 For the festival of Hyacinthus
 he gave me a syrinx, a set of pipes made
 from well-cut reeds joined
 with the white wax
 that is sweet to my lips like honey.
 
 He is teaching me to play, as I sit on his knees;
 but I tremble a little.
 He plays it after me, so softly
 that I can scarcely hear it.
 
 We are so close that we have
 nothing to say to one another;
 but our songs want to converse,
 and our mouths are joined
 as they take turns on the pipes.
 
 It is late:
 here comes the chant of the green frogs,
 which begins at dusk.
 My mother will never believe
 I spent so long 
 searching for my lost waistband. 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 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 Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "La Flûte de Pan", written 1894, appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 30, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 122

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 © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris