LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,139)
  • Text Authors (19,552)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)

Abel et Caïn
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Race d'Abel, dors, bois et mange :
Dieu te sourit complaisamment,

Race de Caïn, dans la fange
Rampe et meurs misérablement.

Race d'Abel, ton sacrifice
Flatte le nez du Séraphin !

Race de Caïn, ton supplice
Aura-t-il jamais une fin ?

Race d'Abel, vois tes semailles
Et ton bétail venir à bien ;

Race de Caïn, tes entrailles
Hurlent la faim comme un vieux chien.

Race d'Abel, chauffe ton ventre
À ton foyer patriarcal ;

Race de Caïn, dans ton antre
Tremble de froid, pauvre chacal !

Race d'Abel, [sans peur pullule :
L'argent]1 fait aussi [ses]2 petits ;

Race de Caïn, [ton cœur brûle ;]3
[Éteins ces cruels]4 appétits.

Race d'Abel, tu [croîs]5 et broutes
Comme les punaises des bois !

Race de Caïn, sur les routes
Traîne ta famille aux abois.

-- Ah ! race d'Abel, ta charogne
Engraissera le sol fumant !

Race de Caïn, ta besogne
N'est pas faite suffisamment ;

Race d'Abel, voici ta honte :
Le fer est vaincu par l'épieu !

Race de Caïn, au ciel monte,
Et sur la terre jette Dieu !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   G. Frid 

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Révolte, pages 219-221. Note: this was number 91 in the first edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 119 or 144 in subsequent editions.

Note: This poem is split into two parts in the 1861 and 1868 editions, but not in the 1857 edition. In the 1861 and 1868 editions, stanzas 1-12 are in section I and the rest are in section II.

1 1861 edition, 1868 edition, and G. Frid: "aime et pullule ! / Ton or"
2 1861 edition, 1868 edition, and G. Frid: "des"
3 1861 edition, 1868 edition, and G. Frid: "cœur qui brûle,"
4 1861 edition, 1868 edition, and G. Frid: "Prends garde à ces grands"
5 1868 edition and G. Frid: "crois"

Text Authorship:

  • by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Abel et Caïn", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 5. Révolte, no. 119, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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 Géza Frid (1904 - 1989), "Abel et Caïn", op. 15 (1938) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Abel i Kain", first published 1927
  • ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Abel and Cain", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • RUS Russian (Русский) (Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov) , "Авель и Каин"


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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 170

Abel i Kain
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the French (Français) 
I
Abelův rode, pij, spi, jez;
Bůh usmívá se vlídně na tě.

Kainův rode, mři a lez
a bídně zahyň v kalu, blátě!

Abelův rode, oběť tvá
je libost nosu Serafinů!

Kainův rode, muka zlá,
jež snášíš, kdy se schýlí k zhynu?

Abelův rode, stádům tvým
i dobytku jen kynou zdary;

Kainův rode, hladem zlým
se svíjíš, vyje pes jak starý.

Abelův rode, hřej svůj břich
rodného krbu ve zátiší;

Kainův rode, v zimách zlých,
šakale bídný, chvěj se v skrýši!

Abelův rode, množ se dál,
tak jak se množí zlato tvoje;

Kainův rode, srdce pal,
vše choutky ztlum a nepokoje.

Abelův rode, štěnice
tak lesní bují, ty jak rosteš!

Kainův rode, silnice
tvou bídu v plen a pospas nostež!

II
Abelův rode, mrchy tvé
kdys kouřící se zhnojí půdu!

Kainův rode, dílo zve
tě lepší, hodné tvojich údů;

Abelův rode, meč tvůj lup
se kyje stane jedním rázem!

Kainův rode, v nebe vstup
a boha pomsty svrhni na zem!

Confirmed with BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Výbor z Květů , translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha: J. Otto, 1927, pages 62-63.


Text Authorship:

  • by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Abel i Kain", first published 1927 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Abel et Caïn", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 5. Révolte, no. 119, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
    • 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):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-12-03
Line count: 34
Word count: 160

Gentle Reminder

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

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris