Erste Worte | Wie sie nun klingt und singt

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by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Comme elle chante

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG GER

Comme elle chante
Dans ma voix,
L'âme longtemps murmurante
Des fontaines et des bois !

Air limpide du paradis,
Avec tes grappes de rubis,
Avec tes gerbes de lumière,
Avec tes roses et tes fruits ;

Quelle merveille en nous à cette heure !
Des paroles depuis des âges endormies
En des sons, en des fleurs.
Sur mes lèvres enfin prennent vie.

Depuis que mon souffle a dit leur chanson,
Depuis que ma voix les a créés,
Quel silence heureux et profond
Naît de leurs âmes allégées !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• M. Crickboom

M. Crickboom sets stanzas 1-3

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Charles Van Lerberghe, La Chanson d’Ève, Société du Mercure de France, 1904, 2e éd., pages 27-28.

Text Authorship:

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 6, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904 [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), "Prima verba", op. 95 no. 2 (1906), published 1906 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from La Chanson d'Ève, no. 2, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

by Mathieu Crickboom (1871 - 1947), "Roses ardentes", op. 12 (Dix Mélodies pour chant et piano) no. 9 (1915) [ voice and piano ]
- View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 84

Erste Worte

Language: German (Deutsch) after the French (Français)

Wie sie nun klingt und singt
in meiner Stimme -
die Seele, die seit langem raunt
von Quellen und von Wäldern!

Du reine, klare Luft des Paradieses,
mit deinen Trauben aus Rubinen,
mit deinen Bündeln aus Licht,
mit deinen Rosen, deinen Früchten,

welch Staunen ist in uns zu jener Stund!
Worte, seit Urzeiten schlummernd
in Tönen und in Blüten -
auf meinen Lippen werden sie lebendig.

Nun, da mein Atem ihren Sang verströmt,
nun, da meine Stimme sie erschaffen hat,
welch heitere und tiefe Stille
geht jetzt hervor aus ihren leicht geword’nen Seelen.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2015 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1903, appears in La Chanson d'Ève, in 1. Premières paroles, no. 6, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1904
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-06
Line count: 16
Word count: 91