Soleil qui flambes, soleil d’or rouge, Soleil qui flambes, soleil de diamant, Soleil qui flambes, soleil de sang ! Soleil je t’offre cet or vivant ; Soleil je te donne ce diamant de chair ; Soleil je te voue ce sang de mon sang ! Soleil, mets ton or sur sa peau ! Soleil, mets diamant dans ses yeux ! Soleil, mets ton sang dans son cœur ! Soleil qui flambes, soleil d’or rouge, Soleil qui flambes, soleil de diamant, Soleil qui flambes, soleil de sang !
Notes provided by Laura Prichard about the song by Alexandre Georges: This song is sung by the character of the Vougne, a fierce old Romani woman who is the grandmother of the title character Miarka. In the dialect of French still spoken around Geneva, Switzerland (which has close ties to Middle French), her name evokes two objects that touch each other, in the sense that two balls or two pucks are said to “vougner.”
The poetic text in the preface to Georges’ complete score is preceded with this introduction: “La Vougne essuie maintenant le petite Miarka pour la présenter au Soleil. Elle élève l’enfant au-dessus de sa tête, et d’une voix plus forte, sur un rythme plus large, avec un accent plus solennel, pareille à une prêtresse officiante, elle entonne l'hymne au Soleil.” (Roman page 45) [La Vougne now wipes little Miarka to present her to the Sun. She raises the child above her head, and in a very loud voice, in a broad rhythm, with a solemn accent, like an officiating priestess, she intones the hymn to the Sun.]
Text Authorship:
- by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), written 1883, appears in Miarka la fille à l'ours, in 1. Miarka naît, Paris, Éd. Charpentier, first published 1883 [author's text not yet checked 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 Alexandre Georges (1850 - 1938), "Hymne au soleil", 1888 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de Miarka, no. 2, Éd. Enoch [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2024-02-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 80