by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs
Chant pastoral
Language: French (Français)
Il faut chanter un chant pastoral, invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d'été. Je garde mon troupeau et Sélénis le sien, à l'ombre ronde d'un olivier qui tremble. Sélénis est couchée sur le pré. Elle se lève et court, ou cherche des cigales, ou cueille des fleurs avec des herbes, ou lave son visage dans l'eau fraîche du ruisseau. Moi, j'arrache la laine au dos blond des moutons pour en garnir ma quenouille, et je file. Les heures sont lentes. Un aigle passe dans le ciel. L'ombre tourne: changeons de place la corbeille de [figues]1 et la jarre de lait. Il faut chanter un chant pastoral, invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d'été.
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Debussy: "fleurs" (and some editions of Louÿs)
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Marvin J. Ward
1 Debussy: "fleurs" (and some editions of Louÿs)
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Chant pastoral", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 2 [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 André-Marie Cuvelier , "Chant pastoral", 1932 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, 2ème recueil, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Chant pastoral", L. 102/(96) no. 1, from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 1, note: incidental music to accompany the recitation of twelve prose poems [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Joseph Jongen (1873 - 1953), "Chant pastoral", op. 42 (1913) [ women's chorus and piano or chamber orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Marvin J. Ward) , "Pastoral Song", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Hirtenlied", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Marvin J. Ward
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 112