Serenade | Alas, Colombine has closed the shutters

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by Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823 - 1891)

Translation © by Peter Low

Sérénade

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Las ! Colombine a fermé le volet,
Et vainement le chasseur tend ses toiles,
Car la fillette au doux esprit follet,
De ses rideaux laissant tomber les voiles,
S'est dérobée, ainsi que les étoiles.
Bien qu'elle cache à l'amant indigent
Son casaquin pareil au ciel changeant,
Ah ! C'est pour charmer cette beauté barbare
Que remuant comme du vif-argent.
Arlequin chante et gratte sa guitare.

Text Authorship:

by Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823 - 1891), "Sérénade", appears in Les Cariatides, in Les Caprices - en dizains à la manière de Clément Marot, no. 7, first published 1842 [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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Sérénade", L. 29/(34) (1882) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , "Serenade", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Geoffrey Wieting

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 63

Serenade

Language: English after the French (Français)

Alas, Colombine has closed the shutters,
and the hunter spreads his cloths in vain,
for the girl with the gentle crazy mind,
letting down the veils of her curtains,
has disappeared, as have the stars.
Although from her penniless lover she hides 
her blouse coloured like the changing sky,
ah! it's to charm this untamed beauty
that Arlequin, moving like quicksilver,
sings and scrapes his guitar.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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 Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823 - 1891), "Sérénade", appears in Les Cariatides, in Les Caprices - en dizains à la manière de Clément Marot, no. 7, first published 1842
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-04-21
Line count: 10
Word count: 66