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by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872)
Translation © by Gregory Ristow

La barque est petite et la mer immense
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CHI ENG
La barque est petite et la mer immense,
La vague nous jette au ciel en courroux,
Le ciel nous renvoie au flot en démence:
Près du mât rompu prions à genoux!
 
De nous à la tombe il n'est qu'une planche:
Peut-être ce soir, dans un lit amer,
Sous un froid linceul, fait d'écume blanche,
Irons-nous dormir, veillés par l'éclair!
 
Fleur du paradis, sainte Notre-Dame,
Si bonne aux marins en péril de mort,
Apaise le vent, fais [taire]1 la lame,
Et pousse du doigt notre esquif au port.
 
Nous te donnerons, si tu nous délivres,
Une belle robe en papier d'argent,
Un cierge à festons pesant quatre livres,
Et, pour ton Jésus, un petit Saint-Jean.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Fournier •   F. Schmitt 

F. Schmitt sets stanzas 1-3

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

First published April 1844 in the revue L'Artiste

1 Fournier: "tomber"

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), title 1: "La tempête", title 2: "Pendant la tempête", written 1840, appears in España, first published 1845 [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 François Emmanuel Joseph Bazin (1816 - 1878), "Pendant l'orage", subtitle: "Marine" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Adolphe N. Bérard (1870 - 1946), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ soprano, four-part mixed chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Fernand Bodé (d. 1945), "Pendant la tempête", copyright © 1916 [ voice, piano, and violin or cello or flute ad libitum ], from 5 Chants avec accompagnement de piano (violon ou violoncelle ad libitum), no. 4, Éd. Bourlant-Ladam [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918), "Pendant la tempête", 1912, published 2000 [ three-part men's chorus ], Paris, Durand [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray (1840 - 1910), "Pendant la tempête", published [1880] [ vocal duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano with piano ], Paris, Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
  • by G. Bourgoin , "Ex-Voto", published 1917 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 4, Paris, Gregh [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Bernard-Louis Crocé-Spinelli (1871 - 1932), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Raymond Decazes, Vicomte (1851 - 1913), as Raymond Sézac, "Fleur du paradis" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Marcel Dupré (1886 - 1971), "Pendant la tempête", 1912 [ four-part mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Camille Fournier (d. 1944), "Prière de matelots", published 1911 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de jeunesse, no. 7, Paris, Éd. F. Durdilly, Ch. Hayet [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Gustave Galand (1872 - 1898), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ four-part men's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Baptiste Ganaye (1870 - 1946), "Pendant la tempête", published 1910 [ four-part men's chorus ], Paris, Andrieu [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Fernand-Gustave Halphen (1872 - 1917), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ four-part mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis Imbert (1866 - 1900), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ four-part men's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles d'Ivry (1867 - 1945), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Georges Kastner (1810 - 1867), "Pendant la tempête", published 1854 [ six-part men's chorus and piano ad libitum ], from Les chants de la vie, no. 20, Paris, Brandus [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles-Gaston Levadé (1869 - 1948), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ four-part mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Edmond Paul Henri Malherbe (1870 - 1963), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ four-part men's chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Antoine-Louis Malliot (d. 1867), "Pendant l'orage" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jules-Ernest Georges Mouquet (1867 - 1946), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Max d'Ollone (1875 - 1959), "Pendant la tempête", <<1896 [ tenor and men's chorus ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Jacques Guillaume de Sauville de la Presle (1888 - 1969), "Prière du marin", 1908 [ tenor, three-part women's chorus, violoncello, 2 violins, and piano or organ ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Baptiste de Rongé (1825 - 1882), "Prière pendant la tempête" [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Florent Schmitt (1870 - 1958), "Par la tempête", op. 40 no. 2 (1896), published 1919, rev. 1913, stanzas 1-3 [ SATB chorus and orchestra ], from Trois choeurs a cappella, no. 2, Paris: Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "V bouři"
  • ENG English (Gregory Ristow) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "W Burzy. Modlitwa", Kraków, first published 1911


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-12-06
Line count: 16
Word count: 115

The boat is small and the sea immense
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
The boat is small and the sea immense,
The wave throws us skywards in ire,
The sky flings us at the tide in madness,
By the worn out mast we pray on our knees!
 
Between us and the tomb is but one plank:
Maybe tonight, in a bitter bed,
Under a cold shroud of white foam,
We will sleep, looked after by lightning!
 
Flower of paradise, holy Mother,
So good to imperiled sailors,
Appease the wind, silence the wave,
And nudge with a finger our skiff to port.
 
We will give you, if you deliver us,
A beautiful robe of silver foil,
A festooned, four-pound candle
And for your Jesus, a St. Jean miniature.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "La tempête" = "The tempest"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Gregory Ristow, (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 Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), title 1: "La tempête", title 2: "Pendant la tempête", written 1840, appears in España, first published 1845
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-01-28
Line count: 16
Word count: 114

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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