by
Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs
Chant funèbre
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG GER
Chosen for Diff
Chantez un chant funèbre, muses Mytiléniennes, chantez!
La terre est sombre comme un vêtement de deuil
et les arbres jaunes frissonnent comme des chevelures coupées.
Héraïos! ô mois triste et doux! les feuilles tombent
[doucement comme la neige;]1
le soleil est plus pénétrant
dans la forêt éclaircie...
Je n'entends plus rien que le silence.
Voici qu'on a porté au tombeau Pittakos chargé d'années.
Beaucoup sont morts, que j'ai connus. Et celle qui vit
est pour moi comme si elle n'etait plus.
[Celui-ci est le dixième automne
que j'ai vu mourir sur cette plaine.]2
Il est temps aussi que je disparaisse.
Pleurez avec moi, muses Mytiléniennes, pleurez [sur mes pas!]2!
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• C. Koechlin View text without footnotes
1 Koechlin: "tombent, neige dorée"
2 omitted by Koechlin.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by André-Marie Cuvelier (d. 1947), "Chant funèbre", 1935 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, 3ème recueil, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), "Chant funèbre", op. 39 no. 3 (1906-08), published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 3, Éditions Maurice Senart [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sarah Daughtrey) , "Funeral song", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Grabgesang", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Sarah Daughtrey
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 112
Funeral song
Language: English after the French (Français)
Chosen for Diff
Sing a funeral song, Mytilenian muses, sing!
The earth is dark like a mourning cloak
and the yellow trees tremble like shorn tresses.
Heraios! oh sad and gentle month! the leaves fall,
snow gilded,
the sun is more penetrating
in the forest clearing...
I hear no longer anything but silence.
Here one carried to his tomb Pittakos, down with years.
Many are dead, that I knew.
And she who lives is, to me, like she who is no more.
It is time also for me to disappear
Weep with me, Mytilenian muses, weep!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Sarah Daughtrey, (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:
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 93
