by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857)
Translation © by Peter Low

Le Rhin allemand
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Nous l'avons eu votre Rhin allemand,
Il a tenu dans notre verre.
Un couplet qu'on s'en va chantant
Efface-t-il la trace altière
Du pied de nos chevaux marqué dans votre sang?

Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand.
Son sein porte une plaie ouverte,
Du jour où Condé triomphant
A déchiré sa robe verte.
Où le père a passé, passera bien l'enfant,

Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand.
Que faisaient vos vertus germaines,
Quand notre César tout-puissant
De son ombre couvrait vos plaines ?
Où donc est-il tombé, ce dernier ossement?

Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand,
Si vous oubliez votre histoire,
Vos jeunes filles, sûrement,
Ont mieux gardé notre mémoire;
Elles nous ont versé votre petit vin blanc.

S'il est à vous, votre Rhin allemand,
Lavez-y donc votre livrée;
Mais, parlez-en moins fièrement.
Combien, au jour de la curée,
Étiez-vous de corbeaux contre l'aigle expirant?

Qu'il coule en paix votre Rhin allemand,
Que vos cathédrales gothiques
S'y reflétent modestement;
Mais craignez que vos airs bachiques
Ne réveillent les morts de leur repos sanglant.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   F. David 

F. David sets stanzas 1-2, 4-6
A. Vaucorbeil sets stanzas 1, 4, 2, 5-6

A response to N. Becker's Der deutsche Rhein

Text Authorship:

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

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

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Low [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 172

We've had that German Rhine of yours
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
We've had that German Rhine of yours -
drops of it have stayed in our glasses.
Does a verse that you sing as you go
efface the haughty trace
that our horses' feet marked in your blood?

We've had that German Rhine of yours.
Its breast bears an open wound
from the day when Condé triumphantly
tore its green raiment.
Where the father passed, so surely will the child.

We've had that German Rhine of yours.
What did your Germanic virtues achieve,
when our omnipotent Emperor
covered your plains with his shadow?
So where did he fall, that last bag of bones?

We've had that German Rhine of yours.
Though may forget your history,
your young women, surely,
have remembered us better:
they served us some of your white wine.

If it is yours, your German Rhine,
then go wash your livery in it;
but don't speak of it so proudly.
How many of you, when it came to the kill,
were crows biting the dying eagle?

May it flow in peace, your German Rhine
and reflect your gothic cathedrals
modestly in its water.
But be very scared that your drinking songs
may wake the dead from their bloody repose.

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Text 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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This text was added to the website: 2022-08-03
Line count: 30
Word count: 199