At the clear fountain | At the clear fountain

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from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

À la claire fontaine

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

À la claire fontaine
Les mains me suis lavé,

À la feuille d’un chêne
Me le suis essuyéer.

Sur la plus haute branche
Le rossignol chantait,

Chante, beau rossignol,
Toi qui as le cœur gai,
Tra la la la la la la la.

Le mien n’est pas de même,
Mon amant ni a laissée,

Pour un bouton de rose
Que je lui ai refusé.

Je voudrais que la rose
Fut encore au rosier.

Et que le rosier même,
Fut encore à planter.

Et que la planteur même,
Ne fut pas encore né.
Tra la la la la la la la.

Text Authorship:

from Volkslieder (Folksongs) [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 George Templeton Strong (1856 - 1948), "À la claire fontaine", 1931, published [1931] [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Cinq mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 4, Genève, Éd. du Siècle Musical [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "At the clear fountain", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-29
Line count: 20
Word count: 100

At the clear fountain

Language: English after the French (Français)

At the clear fountain
I washed my hands,
 
On the leaf of an oak tree
I dried them off.
 
On the topmost branch
The nightingale sang,
 
Sing, beautiful nightingale,
You whose heart is so gay,
Tra la la la la la la la.
 
My heart does not feel the same,
As my lover has left me,
 
Because of a rosebud
Which I refused him.
 
I wish that the rose
Were still on the rosebush.
 
And that that same rosebush,
Were yet to be planted.
 
And that the planter himself,
Were not yet born.
Tra la la la la la la la.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Laura Prichard, (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) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-10-08
Line count: 20
Word count: 101