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by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translation © by Garrett Medlock

Sara, belle d'indolence
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Sara, belle d'indolence,
Se balance, 
Dans un hamac, au-dessus
Du bassin d'une fontaine
Toute pleine 
D'eau puisée à l'Ilyssus. 

Et la frêle escarpolette
Se reflète 
Dans le transparent miroir,
Avec la baigneuse blanche
Qui se penche, 
Qui se penche pour se voir.

Chaque fois que la nacelle
Qui chancelle, 
Passe à fleur d'eau dans son vol,
On voit sur l'eau qui s'agite
Sortir vite 
Son beau pied er son beau col.

Elle bat d'un pied timide
L'onde humide 
Qui ride son clair tableau; 
Du beau pied rougit l'albâtre; 
La folâtre 
Rit de la fraîcheur de l'eau.

Reste ici caché: demeure!
Dans une heure, 
D'un oeil ardent tu verras
Sortir du bain l'ingénue
Toute nue, 
Croisant ses mains sur ses bras!

Car c'est un astre qui brille,
Qu'une fille 
Qui sort du bain au flot clair,
Cherche s'il ne vient personne,
Et frissonne, 
Toute mouillée au grand air!

Elle est là, sous la feuillée,
Eveillée
Au moindre bruit de malheur;
Et rouge, pour une mouche
Qui la touche,
Comme une grenade en fleur.

On voit tout ce que dérobe
Voile ou robe;
Dans ses yeux d'azur en feu,
Son regard que rien ne voile
Est l'étoile
Qui brille au fond d'un ciel bleu.

L'eau sur son corps qu'elle essuie
Roule en pluie,
Comme sur un peuplier;
Comme si, gouttes à gouttes,
Tombaient toutes
Les perles de son collier.

Mais Sara la nonchalante
Est bien lente 
A finir ses doux ébats; 
Toujours elle se balance
En silence, 
Et va murmurant tout bas:

"Oh! si j'étais capitane
Ou sultane, 
Je prendrais des bains ambrés
Dans un bain de marbre jaune,
Près d'un trône, 
Entre deux griffons dorés!

"J'aurais le hamac de soie
Qui se ploie 
Sous le corps prét à se pâmer;
J'aurais la molle ottomane
Dont émane 
Un parfum qui fait aimer. 

"Je pourrais folâtrer nue,
Sous la nue. 
Dans le ruisseau du jardin, 
Sans craindre de voir dans l'ombre
Du bois sombre 
Deux yeux s'allumer soudain. 

"Il faudrait risquer sa tète
Inquiète,
Et tout braver pour me voir,
Le sabre nu de l'heiduque,
Et l'eunuque
Aux dents blanches, au front noir!

"Puis, je pourrais sans qu'on presse
Ma paresse, 
Laisser avec mes habits 
Traîner sur les larges dalles
Mes sandales 
De drap brodé de rubis."

Ainsi se parle en princesse,
Et sans cesse 
Se balance avec amour
La jeune fille rieuse,
Oublieuse 
Des promptes ailes du jour.

L'eau, du pied de la baigneuse
Peu soigneuse,
Rejaillit sur le gazon,
Sur sa chemise plissée,
Balancée
Aux branches d'un vert buisson.

Et cependant des campagnes
Ses compagnes 
Prennent toutes le chemin.
Voici leur troupe frivole
Qui s'envole 
En se tenant par la main.

Chacune, en chantant comme elle,
Passe et mêle 
Ce reproche a sa chanson:
-- Oh! la paresseuse fille
Qui s'habille 
Si tard un jour de moisson!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   H. Berlioz 

H. Berlioz sets stanzas 1-6, 10-13, 15, 16, 18, 19
F. Pedrell sets stanzas 1-4, 10-11, 16-19
J. Eichhoff sets stanzas 1-4, 18-19
A. Graud sets stanzas 1-4, 10-11, 15-16, 18-19

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Sara la baigneuse", appears in Les Orientales, no. 19 [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 Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869), "Sara la baigneuse", op. 11 (1832-34), stanzas 1-6, 10-13, 15, 16, 18, 19 [ vocal duet with piano ], Éd. Costallat & Cie [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by J. Eichhoff , "Sarah La Baigneuse", stanzas 1-4,18-19 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. A. O'Kelly [sung text not yet checked]
  • by André Gédalge (1856 - 1926), "Sara la baigneuse" [ four-part mixed chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Albert Graud , "Sara la baigneuse", subtitle: "Orientale", stanzas 1-4, 10-11, 15-16, 18-19 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Etienne Challiot [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "Sara la baigneuse", published 1864 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], Éd. Léon Grus [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Hippolyte Monpou (1804 - 1841), "Sara la baigneuse" [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Felipe Pedrell (1841 - 1922), "Sara la baigneuse", stanzas 1-4,10-11, 16-19 [ high voice and piano ], from 12 Orientales, no. 2, Milan, G. Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Sara la baigneuse" [ voice and piano ], from Viardot mélodies, no. 4, Éd. G. Miran & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , "Sara the bather", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 114
Word count: 465

Sara the bather
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Sara, beauty of indolence,
Sways
In a hammock above
The basin of a fountain
All full
Of water drawn from the Ilisos.

And the fragile swing
Is reflected
In the transparent mirror,
With the white bather
Who leans [over],
Who leans [over] to see herself.

Each time that the basket
Which totters
Passes [just above the water] in its flight,
One sees upon the water that ripples
Going out quickly
Her lovely foot and her beautiful neck.

She beats with a timid foot
The wet wave
Which ripples its clear picture;
The lovely foot blushes alabaster;
The playful girl
Laughs [in] the freshness of the water.

Remain here hidden: stay!
In an hour
With an ardent eye you will see
The ingenue getting out of the bath
Completely naked,
Crossing her hands [over] her arms!

For it is a star that shines,
How a girl
Who gets out of the bath at the clear swell,
Looks if anyone is coming
And shivers,
All wet in the open air!

[...]






[...]






[...]






But Sara the blithe girl
Is very slow
To finish her gentle movements;
Always she sways
In silence,
And goes [on] murmuring very low:

“Oh! if I were [a] captain
Or [a] sultan,
I would take amber-scented baths
In a bathtub of yellow marble
Near a throne
Between two golden griffins!

“I would have [a] hammock of silk
Which bends
Under the body ready to faint,
I would have soft ottoman
[From] which emanates
A fragrance that makes [one] love.

“I could frolic nude
Under the [sky].
In the stream of the garden,
Without fear of seeing in the shadow
Of the dark woods
Two eyes light up suddenly.

[...]






“Then, I could, without anyone rushing
My idleness,
Leave with my clothes,
Dragging upon the broad flagstones
My sandals
Of woolen cloth embroidered with rubies.”

Thus [the] princess speaks of it,
And ceaselessly
Sways with love,
The laughing young girl,
Oblivious
To the swift wings of the day.

[...]






And yet [from] the countrysides
Her companions
All take the same path.
Here is their dizzy troop
Which flies away
Holding hands.

Each one, singing like her,
Passes and mixes
This reproach to her song:
-- Oh! the lazy girl
Who dresses herself
So late [on] a harvest day!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Garrett Medlock, (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:

  • a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Sara la baigneuse", appears in Les Orientales, no. 19
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2019-01-12
Line count: 89
Word count: 378

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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!
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