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Mon beau tzigane mon amant Écoute les cloches qui sonnent Nous nous aimions éperdûment Croyant n'être vus de personne Mais nous étions bien mal cachés Toutes les cloches à la ronde Nous ont vu du haut des clochers Et le disent à tout le monde Demain Cyprien et Henri Marie Ursule et Catherine La boulangère et son mari Et puis Gertrude ma cousine Souriront quand je passerai Je ne saurai plus où me mettre Tu seras loin Je pleurerai J'en mourrai peut-être
Authorship:
- by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "Les Cloches", written 1902, appears in Alcools, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1913 [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 Jean Apothéloz (1900 - 1965), "Les Cloches", 1952 [ voice and piano ], from Chansons sur des textes de Guillaume Apollinaire pour chant et piano, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Les Cloches", 1947 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Honegger (1892 - 1955), "Les Cloches", H. 12 no. 6 (1917), published 1921 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Six Poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire, no. 6, Albert Zunz Mathot [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alexandre Kraskiewicz , "Les Cloches" [ medium voice and piano ], Béziers, Éd. Société de Musicologie du Languedoc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges (Jerzy) Nawrocki , "Les Cloches", <<1978 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean Rivier (1896 - 1987), "Les Cloches", 1925-1926, published 1929 [ high voice and piano or orchestra ], from Huit poèmes, no. 8, Éd. Maurice Sénart (Salabert) [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "The Bells", copyright © 2022, (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: 16
Word count: 82
Handsome gypsy, my lover, listen to the bells ringing. We made love passionately thinking no one could see us. But we were not at all well hidden: all the bells in the neighbourhood saw us from up in the belltowers and are telling everyone now. Tomorrow Cyprien, Henri, Marie, Ursule and Catherine, the baker's wife and the baker, and then Gertrude my cousin will smile when I walk past. I won't know where to go. You'll be far away; I will weep; I will die perhaps.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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 Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "Les Cloches", written 1902, appears in Alcools, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1913
This text was added to the website: 2022-04-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 86