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Tu attaches à tes mains légères tes crotales retentissants, Myrrhinidion ma chérie, et à peine nue hors de la robe, tu étires tes membres nerveux. Que tu es jolie, les bras en l'air, les reins arqués et les seins rouges! Tu commences : tes pieds l'un devant l'autre se posent, hésitent, et glissent mollement. Ton corps se plie comme une écharpe, tu caresses ta peau qui frissonne, et la volupté inonde tes longs yeux évanouis. Tout à coup, tu claques des crotales ! Cambre-toi sur tes pieds dressés, secoue les reins, lance les jambes et que tes mains pleines de fracas appellent tous les désirs en bande autour de ton corps tournoyant ! Nous applaudissons à grands cris, soit que, souriant sur l'épaule, tu agites d'un frémissement ta croupe convulsive et musclée, soit que tu ondules presque étendue, au rythme de tes souvenirs.
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "La Danseuse aux crotales", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Épigrammes dans l'Île de Chypre, no. 123 [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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "La Danseuse aux crotales", L. 102/(96) no. 10, from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 10, note: incidental music to accompany the recitation of twelve prose poems. [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Marvin J. Ward) , "The Dancer With Krotales", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die Tänzerin mit den Krotala", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Marvin J. Ward
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 140
You attach to your light hands your resounding krotales, Myrrhinidion, my dear, and barely naked out of the dress, you stretch your nervous limbs. How pretty you are, arms in the air, loins arched and breasts red! You begin: you place your feet one in front of the other, hesitate, and slide softly. Your body bends like a scarf, you caress your skin which shivers, and voluptuousness floods your long fainted eyes. Suddenly, you strike the krotales! Arch yourself up on your raised feet, shake your loins, throw your legs and your hands full of noise call all the desires in a band around your spinning body. We applaud with great cries, whether, smiling over your shoulder, you shake with a shiver your convulsive and muscular behind, or you undulate almost extended, to the rhythm of your memories.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Marvin J. Ward, (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 Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "La Danseuse aux crotales", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Épigrammes dans l'Île de Chypre, no. 123
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 138