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by Jules Renard (1864 - 1910)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Le martin‑pêcheur
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG FIN GER
Ça n'a pas mordu, ce soir,
mais je rapporte une rare émotion. 

Comme je tenais ma perche de ligne tendue, 
un martin-pêcheur est venu s'y poser.

Nous n'avons pas d'oiseau plus éclatant. 
Il semblait une grosse fleur bleue
au bout d'une longue tige. 
La perche pliait sous le poids.  
Je ne respirais plus, tout fier d'être pris 
pour un arbre par un martin-pêcheur.

Et je suis sûr qu'il ne s'est pas envolé de peur,
mais qu'il a cru qu'il ne faisait que passer
d'une branche à une autre.

Text Authorship:

  • by Jules Renard (1864 - 1910), "Le martin-pêcheur", appears in Histoires naturelles, first published 1894 [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 Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), "Le martin-pêcheur", M. 50 no. 4 (1906), published 1907 [ voice and piano ], from Histoires naturelles, no. 4, Paris: Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "The kingfisher", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FIN Finnish (Suomi) (Erkki Pullinen) , "Kuningaskalastaja", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Eisvogel", copyright © 2017, (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: 13
Word count: 88

Der Eisvogel
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the French (Français) 
Nichts hat angebissen heute Abend,
doch muss ich über etwas Ungewöhnliches berichten.

Als ich meine Angelrute ausgeworfen hatte,
flog ein Eisvogel heran und setzte sich darauf.

Es gibt keinen Vogel, der mehr ins Auge fällt.
Er kam mir vor, wie eine große blaue Blüte
an der Spitze eines langen Stängels. 
Die Rute bog sich unter dem Gewicht.
Ich hielt den Atem an - mächtig stolz, 
von einem Eisvogel für einen Baum gehalten zu werden.

Und ich bin mir sicher, dass er nicht aus Angst wegflog,
sondern weil er glaubte, dass es nur 
von einem Zweig zum nächsten ging.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2017 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Jules Renard (1864 - 1910), "Le martin-pêcheur", appears in Histoires naturelles, first published 1894
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-09
Line count: 13
Word count: 97

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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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