Or nous regardions les cygnes
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG ENG
Or nous regardions les cygnes
Nager ce soir plein de tiédeur
Sur le grand lac où se résignent
Les branches des saules pleureurs
Et c'était l'heure où le jour meurt.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, no title, written 1899, appears in Le Guetteur mélancolique, in Stavelot, in 1. L'amour, no. 2, Paris, Éd. posthume Gallimard, first published 1952 [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 cygnes", 1952 [ voice and piano ], from Chansons sur des textes de Guillaume Apollinaire pour chant et piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Or, nous regardions les cygnes", 1952, published 1991 [ voice and piano ], Éd. de l'AARC (Association des Amis de Robert Caby) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Or, nous regardions les cygnes", 1952 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benoît Menut (b. 1977), "Or nous regardions les cygnes", 2020, published 2020, first performed 2020 [ baritone and piano ], from Le Guetteur mélancolique pour baryton et piano, no. 3, Clichy, Éd. Musicales Artchipel [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edward Staempfli (1908 - 2002), "Or nous regardions" [ soprano and harp ], from Drei Lieder, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Anyi Sharma) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Qi Feng Wu) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
This text was added to the website: 2008-08-30
Line count: 5
Word count: 30
Now that we were watching the swans
Language: English after the French (Français)
Now that we were watching the swans
Swim on this night full of tepidity
On the great lake where they resign themselves
The branches of weeping willows
And that was the hour when the day dies.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translator's note for line 4: Apollinaire often presents a series of images (similar to the way Picasso used Cubism), rather than using coherent sentence structure.
Translation of title "Les cygnes" = "The swans"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Anyi Sharma, (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 Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, no title, written 1899, appears in Le Guetteur mélancolique, in Stavelot, in 1. L'amour, no. 2, Paris, Éd. posthume Gallimard, first published 1952
This text was added to the website: 2023-07-19
Line count: 5
Word count: 36