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Écoute Dieu ronronne dans son beau ciel vide Rouet d'Omphale Les Nations Une remise triomphale de décorations Place des Invalides Dôme d'or Le bilan se dépêche, carde un nuage Les cocardes triclores Nasse la tour Eiffel pendue Elle attrape en silence Toutes les dépêches du monde
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Text Authorship:
- by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), "Place des Invalides", written 1917? [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 Georges Auric (1899 - 1983), "Place des Invalides", 1918, published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Huit poèmes de Jean Cocteau, no. 5, Paris, E. Demets [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Place des Invalides", 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: 10
Word count: 46
Listen God is purring along in the beautiful empty sky The Spinning Wheel of Omphale The Nations A triumphal decoration day ceremony Place des Invalides Golden dome Rushed schedule, carding a cloud The tricolored cockades Net the Eiffel Tower hangs She silently traps All the dispatches in the world
Title - "Place des Invalides" - The open park and military parade ground next to the Hôtel des Invalides, a gold-domed topped museum complex and national monument
Line 1-2: "Omphale" - Omphale was a queen of the ancient Greek kingdom of Lydia; Saint-Saëns wrote a symphonic poem in the 1870s titled "Le Rouet d’Omphale", the rouet being a spinning wheel used by the queen.
Line 2-2: "cloud" - still referring to the spinning process, as if the cloud were wool that needed to be cleaned and “carded"
Line 2-3: "cockades" - patriotic label and hat ribbons worn in France of red, white, and blue
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Stanfield 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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), "Place des Invalides", written 1917?
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 10
Word count: 49