by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translation by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862)
Comment, disaient‑ils
Language: French (Français)
Comment, disaient-ils, Avec nos nacelles, Fuir les alguazils ? -- Ramez, disaient-elles. Comment, disaient-ils, Oublier querelles, Misère et périls ? -- Dormez, disaient-elles. Comment, disaient-ils, Enchanter les belles Sans philtres subtils ? -- Aimez, disaient-elles.
J. Bordier sets stanzas 1, 3, 2
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Oeuvres de Victor Hugo: Les rayons et les ombres, Volume 4, Paris, V. A. Houssiaux, ed., Hébert et Cie, 1875, pages 325-326.
Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Autre guitare", appears in Les Rayons et les Ombres, no. 23, first published 1838 [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 Jean Absil (1893 - 1974), "Autre guitare", 1927, published 1957 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Cinq mélodies, no. 3, Bruxelles, Éd. CéBeDeM [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Guitare", published 2009 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 6a, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Marcial del Adalid (1826 - 1881), "Guitare", published 2009 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant et piano - Cantares viejos y nuevos de Galicia, par Margarita Soto Viso, no. 6b, Éd. Fundacion Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Max Arham (flourished 1911-1917), "Guitare", published <<1917 [ voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies, 4e série, no. 65, Paris, Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Olivier René Bibard (1863 - 1935), as Charles René, "Guitare" [ tenor or soprano and piano ], from Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 3, Paris, Éd. E. Gallet [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875), "Guitare", 1866, published 1866 [ high voice and piano ], from Feuilles d'Album, no. 4, Paris, Éd. “Au Ménestrel” Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jules Bordier (1846 - 1896), "Guitare", published 1880?, stanzas 1,3,2 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies, no. 11, Paris, Éd. G. Hartmann [sung text not yet checked]
- by Arthur Coquard (1846 - 1910), "Guitare", published <<1881 [ medium voice and piano ], from 12 Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 8, Éd. Léon Escudier [sung text not yet checked]
- by Paul-Charles-Marie Curet (1848 - 1917), as Paul Puget, "Comment, disaient-ils", 1870-79? [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, Vol. 1, no. 10, Éd. Girod [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Delafosse (1874 - 1951), "Comment, disaient-ils", published 1918 [ high voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 4, Genève, Éd. Ad. Henn [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léo Delibes (1836 - 1891), "Comment disaient-ils", 1879 [ vocal duet ], unfinished [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pauline Duchambge (1778 - 1858), "Guitare" [ voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Veuve Launer [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830 - 1914), "Comment, disaient-ils" [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Troisième recueil de vingt Mélodies chant et piano de J. Faure, no. 20, Édition Heugel 'Au Ménestrel' [sung text not yet checked]
- by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849 - 1895), "Guitare", op. 10 no. 11, published [1870] [ voice and piano ], from 12 morceaux de chant, 3-ième série, no. 11, kÉd. G. Flaxland [sung text not yet checked]
- by Serge Gut (1927 - 2014), "Guitare", 1951? [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Deux mélodies pour ténor ou soprano et piano, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edmond Hippeau (1849 - 1921), "Guitare", published [1910] [ high voice and piano ], from Chants de jeunesse 2. série, no. 1, Éd. E. Fromont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jenő Hubay (1858 - 1937), "Comment disaient-ils", op. 12 (Trois Mélodies) no. 2, published 1882 [ voice and piano ], Cranz [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Georges Kastner (1810 - 1867), "Comment, disaient-ils" [ four-part men's chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Charles François Kreutzer (1817 - 1868), "Guitare" [ high voice and piano ], from 26 mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 24, Éd. Richault [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis (Trouillon) Lacombe (1818 - 1884), "Guitare" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edouard Lalo (1823 - 1892), "Guitare", op. 17 (6 Mélodies) no. 1 (1856) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by (Alexandre) Charles Lecocq (1832 - 1918), "Guitare" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Franz (Ferenc) Liszt (1811 - 1886), "Comment, disaient-ils", S. 276 (1843), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "Ramez, dormez, aimez!" [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912), "Guitare", 1886, published 1886 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Isabelle Marie Henriette Mellerio , as Ellebasi, "Comment, disaient-ils (Barcarolle)" [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Quinzard [sung text not yet checked]
- by Henri Perry-Biagioli (d. 1907), "Guitare", published [1875] [ high voice and piano ], from 20 Mélodies, 1er volume, no. 17, Paris, Éd. 'Au Magasin du Conservatoire', O'Kelly [sung text not yet checked]
- by Napoléon-Henri Reber (1807 - 1880), "Guitare" [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829 - 1894), "Romance" [ voice and piano ], note: first published as opus 3 (Moskow, Gresser), but the opus number was reused later [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "Guitare", 1851, published 1870 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Hartmann [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Marcel Trémois (1891 - 1974), "Guitare", published 1926 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Theobald Rehbaum (1835 - 1918) ; composed by Franz Liszt.
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862) , no title, written 1862, first published 1862 ; composed by Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov, Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov, Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Yen-Chiang Che) , "“怎麼辦?” 他們問", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "How then, asked he", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "How, asked the men", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , ""O how," murmured he"
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] ((Johann) Philipp Kaufmann)
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: 29
Sprosili oni: ,,Kak v letučich čelnach
Language: Russian (Русский) after the French (Français)
Our translations: FRE
Sprosili oni: ,,Kak v letučich čelnach Nam beloju čajkoj skol'zit' na volnach, Čtob nas storoža nedognali?`` ,,Grebite!`` oni otvečali. Sprosili oni: ,,Kak zabyt', navsegda, Čto v mire judol'nom est' bednost', beda, Čto est' v nëm groza i pečali?`` ,,Zasnite!`` oni otvečali. Sprosili oni: ,,Kak krasavic privleč' Bez čary: čtob sami na strastnuju reč' Oni nam v ob"jatija pali?`` ,,Ljubite!`` oni otvečali.
About the headline (FAQ)
Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST
Note on TransliterationsShow untransliterated (original) text
Text Authorship:
- by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822 - 1862), no title, written 1862, first published 1862 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Autre guitare", appears in Les Rayons et les Ombres, no. 23, first published 1838
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov (1849 - 1927), 1899 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943), "Они отвечали", op. 21 (Двенадцать романсов = Dvenadcat' romansov (Twelve songs)) no. 4 (1902) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov (1872 - 1964), "Спросили они", op. 26 no. 2 [ men's chorus ], Leipzig, Jurgenson [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2003-11-16
Line count: 12
Word count: 61