Bønn | Du kjenner, o Herre, min elendighet!

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by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949)

Translation © by Marianne Beate Kielland

Oraison

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG NOR

Vous savez, Seigneur, ma misère ! 
Voyez ce que je vous apporte !
Des fleurs mauvaises de la terre,
Et du soleil sur une morte.

Voyez aussi ma lassitude,
La lune éteinte et l'aube noire ;
Et fécondez ma solitude
En l'arrosant de votre gloire.

Ouvrez-moi, Seigneur, votre voie,
Éclairez mon âme lasse,
Car la tristesse de ma joie
Semble de l'herbe sous la glace.

Text Authorship:

by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Oraison", appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier, first published 1889 [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 Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "Oraison", op. 24 no. 5 (1895) [ high voice and piano ], from Serres Chaudes, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Thomas Oboe Lee (b. 1945), "Oraison" [ voice and piano ], from Chansons de Maeterlinck, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Alberto Nepomuceno (1864 - 1920), "Oraison", op. 11 no. 2 (1894) [ voice and piano ], Rio de Janeiro: Vieira Machado [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sophie Huet) , "Prayer", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
NOR Norwegian (Bokmål) (Marianne Beate Kielland) , "Bønn", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 62

Bønn

Language: Norwegian (Bokmål) after the French (Français)

Du kjenner, o Herre, min elendighet!
Se hva jeg bringer deg - 
ondskapens blomster fra jorden,
og solen på en død kvinnes legeme.

Se også min utmattelse,
den manglende måne og svarte soloppgang;
Og gi næring til min ensomhet
gjennom å vanne den med din herlighet.

Vis meg, Herre, din vei,
opplys min trette sjel,
for min gledes tristhet 
ser ut som gress under isen.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to Norwegian (Bokmål) copyright © 2024 by Marianne Beate Kielland, (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 Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Oraison", appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier, first published 1889
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2024-02-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 64