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[Tout près du lac filtre une source, Entre deux pierres, dans un coin ; Allègrement l'eau prend sa course Comme pour s'en aller bien loin. Elle murmure :]1 « [Oh]2 ! quelle joie ! Sous la terre il faisait si noir ! Maintenant ma rive verdoie, Le ciel se mire à mon miroir. « Les myosotis aux fleurs bleues Me disent : ‹ Ne m'oubliez pas ! › Les libellules de leurs queues M'égratignent dans leurs ébats ; « À ma coupe l'oiseau s'abreuve... Qui sait ? après quelques détours Peut-être deviendrai-je un fleuve Baignant vallons, rochers et tours. « Je broderai de mon écume Ponts de pierre, quais de granit, Emportant le steamer qui fume À l'Océan où tout finit. » Ainsi la jeune source jase, Formant cent projets d'avenir ; Comme l'eau qui bout dans un vase, Son flot ne peut se contenir ; Mais le berceau touche à la tombe, Le géant futur meurt petit ; Née à peine, la source tombe Dans le grand lac qui l'engloutit !
L. Bruneau sets stanzas 1-3, 5, 7
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)First published in the journal L'Artiste, May 30, 1858.
1 omitted by Barraine.
2 Barraine: "Ah " ; further changes may exist not shown above.
Authorship:
- by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "La source", appears in Émaux et Camées, first published 1863 [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 Tony Aubin (1907 - 1981), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, 2-part women's chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Claude Augé (1854 - 1924), "La source", published 1892 [ voice, unaccompanied ], from Les chants de l'enfance, Paris, Librairie Labrousse [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elsa Barraine (1910 - 1999), "La source", 1929, published 1931 [ soprano, 2-part women's chorus, and orchestra ], Paris, Enoch [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis-Charles-Bonaventure-Alfred Bruneau (1857 - 1934), "La source", published 1932, copyright © 1933, stanzas 1-3,5,7 [ high voice and piano ], from Plein Air, dix poèmes [de Théophile Gautier], no. 2, Paris, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sylvère Caffot (1903 - 1993), as René Sylviano, "La source", <<1929 [ four-part women's chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Auguste Chapuis (1858 - 1933), "La source", published 1898 [ three-part chorus a cappella ], Paris, Durand [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcel Dautremer (1906 - 1978), "La source", <<1929 [ four-part mixed chorus and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Yvonne Desportes (1907 - 1993), "La source", <<1929 [ four-part mixed chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gaston Doin (1878 - 1962), "La source", published 1951 [ voice and piano ], from Quelques émaux et camées, no. 4, Paris, A. Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacques Dupont, dit Jacque-Dupont (1906 - 1985), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, 2-part women's chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Favre (1905 - 1993), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, contralto, SATB chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865 - 1950), "La petite source", op. 77 (c1891), published 1905 [ vocal duet or 2-part chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louise-Marie Simon (1903 - 1990), as Claude Arrieu, "La source", 1929 [ soprano, three-part chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marc Vaubourgouin (1907 - 1983), "La source", <<1929 [ soprano, mixed chorus, and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Gyula Vargha) , "A forrás"
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov) , "Ключ ", first published 1914
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-04-02
Line count: 28
Word count: 172
Close to the lake a spring emerges between two stones, in a corner; gaily the water starts on its journey as if to go a long way. She murmurs: "Oh, what Joy! It was so dark underground! Now my banks are green and the sky looks into my mirror. "The blue forget-me-nots tell me to remember them; the dragonflies scratch me with their tails as they frolic. "The birds drink from my pools... And after a few detours (who knows?) I may become a river and bring water to valleys, rocks and towers. "With my spray I will decorate stone bridges, granite embankments, as I carry the smoking steamer to the Ocean where everything ends." Thus chatters the babbling young spring, forming a hundred future plans - like water boiling in a kettle it cannot contain its energy. But the cradle is close to the tomb, the would-be giant dies small; scarcely born, the spring falls into the lake and is swallowed!
About the headline (FAQ)
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "La source", appears in Émaux et Camées, first published 1863
This text was added to the website: 2022-05-02
Line count: 28
Word count: 162