Ballad | When the angels that were coming

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by Séverin Faust (1872 - 1945), as Camille Mauclair

Translation © by Peter Low

Quand les anges se sont perdus

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Quand les anges se sont perdus
Qui s'en venaient sur la mer
Les oiseaux les ont attendus
En criant éperdus 
Dans le vent amer.

Quand les vaisseaux se sont perdus
Qui s'en venaient sur la mer,
Les oiseaux les ont attendus,
Puis, s'en sont allés dans le vent amer.

S'en sont allés jusqu'aux chaumières
Qui dorment au bord de la mer;
Et ils ont dit qu'étaient perdus
Les anges attendus.

S'en sont allés aux clochers des églises 
Qui chantent selon la brise,
Et ils ont dit qu'étaient perdus 
Les vaiseaux attendus.

Et la nuit les enfants étranges
Ont vu les ailes des anges
Comme des vaisseaux flotter au ciel,
Ont vu des voiles comme des ailes
Planer vers les étoiles.

Et mêlant les ailes, les voiles,
Et les navires et les anges,
Ils ont prié, les enfants frêles,
Dans une ignorance blanche.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Séverin Faust (1872 - 1945), as Camille Mauclair, "Ballade", appears in Le Sang parle, in 3. Lieds, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Maison du Livre, first published 1904 [author's text not yet checked 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 Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "Ballade", op. 27 no. 2 (1896) [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois Lieder de Camille Mauclair, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Anne Mantaux (b. 1966), "Quand les anges se sont perdus", 2019 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , "Ballad", copyright © 2000, (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: 26
Word count: 142

Ballad

Language: English after the French (Français)

 When the angels that were coming
 over the sea became lost,
 the birds waited for them
 crying out desperately
 in the bitter wind.
 
 When the sailing-ships that were coming
 over the sea became lost,
 the birds waited for them,
 then flew off in the bitter wind.
 
 They flew to the thatched cottages
 that sleep beside the coast;
 and they said that the expected angels
 were lost.
 
 They flew to the church-towers
 that sing in the breeze;
 and they said that the expected ships
 were lost.
 
 And that night the strange children
 saw the angels' wings
 floating in the sky like ships;
 they saw sails like wings
 soaring towards the stars.
 
 And muddling together the wings, the sails,
 the ships and the angels,
 these delicate children prayed
 in white ignorance.

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 Séverin Faust (1872 - 1945), as Camille Mauclair, "Ballade", appears in Le Sang parle, in 3. Lieds, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Maison du Livre, first published 1904
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 26
Word count: 130