La fontaine
Language: French (Français)
Je ne veux qu'une seule leçon, c'est la tienne,
fontaine, qui en toi-même retombes _
[celle des eaux risquées]1 auxquelles incombe
ce céleste retour vers la vie terrienne.
Autant que ton multiple murmure
rien ne saurait me servir d'exemple;
toi, ô colonne légère du temple
qui se détruit par sa propre nature.
Dans ta chute, combien se module
chaque jet d'eau qui termine sa danse.
Je me sens l'élève, l'émule
de ton innombrable nuance!
Mais ce qui plus que ton chant vers toi me décide
c'est cet instant de silence en délire
lorsqu'à la nuit, à travers ton élan liquide
passe ton propre retour qu'un souffle retire.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• L. Durey View original text (without footnotes)
1 Durey: "celles de tes eaux risquées"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "La fontaine", op. 42 no. 7 (1932), published 1966 [ high voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 7, Éd. Le Chant du Monde [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "La fontaine", op. 21 no. 8 (1986) [ medium voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The fountain", copyright © 2016, (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: 16
Word count: 108
The fountain
Language: English after the French (Français)
I only want to learn one lesson, it’s yours
fountain, who fall back onto yourself _
[with] those hazardous waters which were responsible
for your celestial return to earthly life.
Nothing so much as your multiple murmurings
could serve as an example for me;
you, lighted column of the temple,
that destroys itself by its own nature.
In your fall, how do you modulate
each jet so that it ends in a dance?
I feel like [your] student, the emulator
of your countless nuances!
But, more than your song, what draws me to you
is that instant of silence in delirium
during the night, [when] passing through your own liquid
you return, [as if] drawn back by a breath.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 119