Le chant du cygne | Dis, pourquoi ajouterions-nous au monde

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by Ernst Josephson (1851 - 1906)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Svanesång

Language: Swedish (Svenska)

Our translations: FIN FRE

Säg, hvarför gifva vi de kval 
[åt]¹ världen vi bort dölja?
Vår jord är ju en jämmerdal,
den sorger öfverhölja.

Det därför är, att skaldens skrik,
dem hjärtats sår frambringa,
skall som en vemodsljuf musik
till eftervärlden klinga;

och därför svanen sjunga skall
med döden under vingen:
hans välljud tjusar världen all,
hans smärta kväljer ingen.

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Ernst Josephson, Svarta Rosor och Gula, C. & E. Gernandts Förlags Aktiebolag, Stockholm, 1901, p. 109.

¹ Rängstrom: "till"
Note: Kilpinen uses the spelling "Säg, varför giva vi de kval" in the first line.

Text Authorship:

by Ernst Josephson (1851 - 1906), "Svanesång", written 1882, appears in Svarta Rosor och Gula [author's text checked 2 times 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 Yrjö Henrik Kilpinen (1892 - 1959), "Svanesång", op. 28 no. 4 (1922), published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Fantasi och verklighet II, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ture Rangström (1884 - 1947), "Svanesång", 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Fyra dikter = Vier Gedichte, no. 4, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation possibly by Ture Rangström (1884 - 1947); composed by Ture Rangström.
- Go to the text.

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

FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Joutsenlaulu", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le chant du cygne", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-06-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 57

Le chant du cygne

Language: French (Français) after the Swedish (Svenska)

Dis, pourquoi ajouterions-nous au monde
les angoisses que nous dissimulons ?
Notre terre n'est-elle pas une vallée de misères
submergée de chagrins ?

C'est pourquoi, quand au cri du poète,
la blessure de son cœur s'ouvre,
une musique d'une douce mélancolie
retentit sur le monde ;

c'est pourquoi le cygne chante
avec la mort sous son aile :
ses harmonies fascinent le monde entier,
il n'y a nulle angoisse dans sa peine.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Swedish (Svenska) to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Pierre Mathé, (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 Swedish (Svenska) by Ernst Josephson (1851 - 1906), "Svanesång", written 1882, appears in Svarta Rosor och Gula
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-04-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 68