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by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869)
Translation © by Peter Low
Le papillon
Language: French (Français)
Naître avec le printemps, mourir avec les roses, Sur l’aile du zéphyr nager dans un ciel pur, Balancé sur le sein des fleurs à peine écloses, S’enivrer de parfums, de lumière et d’azur, Secouant, jeune encor, la poudre de ses ailes, S’envoler comme un souffle aux voûtes éternelles, Voilà du papillon le destin enchanté! Il ressemble au désir, qui jamais ne se pose, Et sans se satisfaire, effleurant toute chose, Retourne enfin au ciel chercher la volupté!
Text Authorship:
- by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869), "Le Papillon", written 1823, appears in Nouvelles méditations poétiques, no. 5 [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 Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Le Papillon", published 2009 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 30a, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Le Papillon", published 2009 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 30b, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henry Bour (d. 1929), "Le papillon", published 1911 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], Nancy, Éd. A. Dupont-Metzner [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcel Gennaro (1886 - 1977), "Le Papillon", published 1923 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Evette & Schaeffer [sung text not yet checked]
- by Camille-Louis Joly (1870 - 1944), "Le Papillon", published 1910 [ medium voice and piano ], Nantes, Éditions R. Perron [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Charles François Kreutzer (1817 - 1868), "Le Papillon" [ high voice and piano ], from 26 mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 22, Éd. Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles-Gaston Levadé (1869 - 1948), "Le Papillon", published 1909 [ tenor and piano ], Paris, Éd. Enoch & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Morac (1871 - 1958), "Le Papillon" [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Rouart, Lerolle & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henri Vieuxtemps (1820 - 1881), "Le Papillon" [ voice and piano ], Éd. de "La France Musicale" [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , "蝴蝶", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Motýl", Prague, first published 1877
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "The Butterfly", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Miguel Antonio Caro) , "La mariposa", appears in Traducciones poéticas, Bogotá, Librería Americana, calle XIV, n. 77, 79, first published 1889
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2015-03-25
Line count: 10
Word count: 77
The Butterfly
Language: English after the French (Français)
To be born with the spring, to die with the roses, to swim on the breeze's wings in a pure sky, to sway in the heart of flowers scarcely opened, drunk with perfumes, blueness and light, still young and shaking the powder from its wings, to take off like a breath up into the eternal dome - such is the butterfly's enchanted destiny! It resembles desire, which never comes to rest, is never satisfied, brushing close to everything, and finally returns to the sky in its search of pleasure!
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869), "Le Papillon", written 1823, appears in Nouvelles méditations poétiques, no. 5
This text was added to the website: 2022-09-05
Line count: 10
Word count: 88