Les hiboux | Sous les ifs noirs qui les abritent

Les hiboux

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG SPA

Sous les ifs noirs qui les abritent,
Les hiboux se tiennent rangés,
Ainsi que des dieux étrangers,
Dardant leur œil rouge. Ils méditent.

Sans remuer ils se tiendront
Jusqu'à l'heure mélancolique
Où, poussant le soleil oblique,
Les ténèbres s'établiront.

Leur attitude au sage enseigne
Qu'il faut en ce monde qu'il craigne
Le tumulte et le mouvement ;

L'homme ivre d'une ombre qui passe
Porte toujours le châtiment
D'avoir voulu changer de place.

Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 134-135. Note: this was number 57 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but 67 or 69 in subsequent editions.

Text Authorship:

by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Les hiboux", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 67, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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-Guy Bailly (1925 - 2009), "Les hiboux", 1982 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Marie-Joseph-Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (1872 - 1921), "Les hiboux", 1898, published 1924 [ low voice and piano ], revised 1911 ; Éd. Philippo [sung text checked 1 time]
by Léo Ferré (1916 - 1993), "Les hiboux", published 1957 [ voice and piano ], Éd. S.E.M.I. Méridian [sung text not yet checked]
by Marie Jaëll (1846 - 1925), "Les hiboux", 1880? [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Georges Pfeiffer (1835 - 1908), "Les hiboux", published 1898 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ladislas Rohozinski (1886 - 1938), "Les hiboux", published 1921 [ medium voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "Les Hiboux" [ voice and piano ], from Six Mélodies sur des poésies de Baudelaire, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Les hiboux", op. 45 no. 5 (1921), published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 5, Éd. Salabert (Maurice Sénart) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Výrové"
ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Owls", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
POR Portuguese (Português) (Delfim Guimarães) , "Os Mochos", appears in As Flores do Mal

Research team for this page: Ted Perry , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 71