The Bullfighter | I had a ring, a gold ring

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by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)

Translation © by Iain Sneddon

Le Toréador

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

J'avais une bague, une bague d'or,
Et je l'ai perdue hier dans la ville ;
Je suis pandériste et toréador,
Guitare à Grenade, épée à Séville.

Mon anneau luit plus que l'astre vermeil ;
Le diable, caché dans l'œil de ma brune,
Pourrait seul produire un bijou pareil
S'il faisait un jour un trou dans la lune.

Si vous retrouvez l'anneau n'importe où,
Rapportez-le-moi. C'est Gil qu'on me nomme.
Certes, je vaux peu ; je ne suis qu'un sou,
Mais près d'un liard je suis gentilhomme.

Je n'ai que mon chant comme le moineau.
Rendez-moi ma bague, et que Dieu vous paie !
Vous connaissez Jeanne ? Eh bien, cet anneau,
C'est, avec son cœur, le seul or que j'aie.

Confirmed with Œuvres inédites de Victor Hugo, Toute la lyre, première série, Paris, 1893.

Text Authorship:

by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Le Toréador", appears in Toute la lyre - nouvelle série [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 Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Le Toréador", VWV 1028 (1884-1897) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , "The Bullfighter", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2023-01-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 115

The Bullfighter

Language: English after the French (Français)

I had a ring, a gold ring,
And I lost it yesterday in the city;
I play tambourine and I’m a bullfighter,
Guitar in Granada, sword in Seville.

My ring shines brighter than the red aster;
The devil, hidden in my brunette's eye,
Could only produce such a jewel
If, one day, he made a hole in the moon.

If you find the ring anywhere,
Bring it back to me. Gil is what they call me.
True, I am worth little; I'm not nearly a penny
But almost a farthing I am a gentleman.

I only have my song like the sparrow.
Give me back my ring, and may God repay you!
Do you know Jeanne? Well, this ring,
It is, along with her heart, the only gold I have.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Iain Sneddon, (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 Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Le Toréador", appears in Toute la lyre - nouvelle série
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-11-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 130