Beautiful one, the moon is so calm

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by Adolphe Retté (1863 - 1930)

Translation © by Sarah Hall

Belle, la lune est si calme

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Belle, la lune est si calme :
Pris aux lèvres des naïades,
Le soir dort dans les roseaux,
Et pas même un oiseau
Ne se lève.

Vois languir au long des grèves
L'eau qui rêve.
Les noirs marronniers soupirent où palpite
L'or des étoiles limpides,
Les cascades murmurantes,
Les vagules chuchoteuses, sous les yeuses
Vers la lune se lamentent.

Ententds cette voix charmante :
L'eau qui chante.
Viens, je sais le val des fraises, je te tresse
Un lien de marjolaine... tu te détournes, tu muses
Aux bouquets blancs des sureaux ?

Je détache ta ceinture
Et je cueille ton sanglot.
L'eau lascive au loin s'argente
L'eau qui rêve, l'eau qui chante,
L'eau qui fuit sous les roseaux.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Adolphe Retté (1863 - 1930), "Belle, la lune est si calme", written 1896, appears in La forêt bruissante, in Prologue, Le dire du Berger noir, Paris, Bibliothèque artistique et littéraire, first published 1896 [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 Irena Regina Poldowski (1880 - 1932), "Sérénade", subtitle: "La forêt bruissante", 1914?, published 1914 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. J & W Chester [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sarah Hall) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-04
Line count: 22
Word count: 115

Beautiful one, the moon is so calm

Language: English after the French (Français)

Beautiful one, the moon is so calm:
Taken from the lips of the naiads
Evening sleeps in the reeds,
And not even a bird
Arises.

See languishing the length of the shoreline
The water that dreams.
The black chestnut trees sigh where throbs
The gold of clear stars,
The murmuring waterfalls,
The whispering waves, beneath the holly oaks
Lament to the moon.

Hear this charming voice:
The water that sings.
Come, I know the strawberry valley, I braid you
A bunch of marjoram… you turn away, you muse
Over a white bouquet of elderberries?

I unbuckle your belt
And I catch your cry.
The lascivious water in the distance [turns] silver
Water that dreams, water that sings,
Water that flees under the reeds.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "Sérénade" = "Serenade"

Translator's note for line 2: naiads are nymphs of springs, fountains, and lakes.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Sarah Hall, (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 Adolphe Retté (1863 - 1930), "Belle, la lune est si calme", written 1896, appears in La forêt bruissante, in Prologue, Le dire du Berger noir, Paris, Bibliothèque artistique et littéraire, first published 1896
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-11-18
Line count: 22
Word count: 123