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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation by Stefan George (1868 - 1933)

Sisina
Language: French (Français) 
Imaginez Diane en galant équipage,
Parcourant les forêts ou battant les halliers,
Cheveux et gorge au vent, s'enivrant de tapage,
Superbe et défiant les meilleurs cavaliers !

Avez-vous vu Théroigne, amante du carnage,
Excitant à l'assaut un peuple sans souliers,
La joue et l'œil en feu, jouant son personnage,
Et montant, sabre au poing, les royaux escaliers ?

Telle la Sisina ! Mais la douce guerrière
À l'âme charitable autant que meurtrière ;
Son courage, affolé de poudre et de tambours,

Devant les suppliants sait mettre bas les armes,
Et son cœur, ravagé par la flamme, a toujours,
Pour qui s'en montre digne, un réservoir de larmes.

Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 137-138. Note: this was number 59 in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but 60 in subsequent editions.


Text Authorship:

  • by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Sisina", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 59, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861 [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 Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "Sisina", op. 24 no. 1, published 2011, first performed 2011 [ vocal duet for tenor and soprano with piano ], from Chansons de Diane, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Stefan George (1868 - 1933) , "Sisina", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Trübsinn und Vergeisterung, Berlin, Bondi, first published 1901 ; composed by Gerhard Frommel.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Sisina", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1919
  • ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Sisina", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2015-12-29
Line count: 14
Word count: 103

Sisina
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the French (Français) 
Denk dir Diana tapfer ausgerüstet
Die durch die wälder eilt durchs dickicht stiebt ·
Im winde haar und hals nach kämpfen lüstet ·
Den besten jägern stolz ein beispiel giebt!

Du sahst Theroigne die am blut sich lezt
Ein unbeschuhtes volk zum sturme rufen ·
Die wange flammend und das schwert gewezt
Im sprung empor auf königliche stufen?

So ist Sisina · doch der zarte krieger
Ist nicht allein ein mörderischer sieger –
Ihr mut gehezt von rauch und trommelhieb

Wird vor dem fliehenden die waffen strecken ·
In ihrer brust · vom brand verwüstet · blieb
Für den der es verdient ein thränenbecken.

Confirmed with Stefan George, Die Blumen des Bösen, a translation of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal, Berlin, Bondi, 1901, page 81.


Text Authorship:

  • by Stefan George (1868 - 1933), "Sisina", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Trübsinn und Vergeisterung, Berlin, Bondi, first published 1901 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Sisina", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 59, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Gerhard Frommel (1906 - 1984), "Sisina", op. 16 no. 2 (1942), published 1942 [voice and piano], from Vier Lieder, no. 2, Heidelberg, Süddeutscher Musikverlag [ sung text not verified ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2017-05-04
Line count: 14
Word count: 104

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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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