Reflets
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG GER
Sous l'eau du songe qui s'élève
Mon âme a peur, mon âme a peur.
Et la lune luit dans mon cœur
Plongé dans les sources du rêve !
Sous l'ennui morne des roseaux.
Seul [les reflets profonds]1 des choses,
Des lys, des palmes et des roses
Pleurent encore au fond des eaux.
Les fleurs s'effeuillent une à une
Sur le reflet du firmament.
Pour descendre, éternellement
[Dans]2 l'eau du songe et dans la lune.
View original text (without footnotes)
First published in the revue La Pléiade, June 1886, and later in Serres Chaudes, 1889.
1 Boulanger: "le reflet profond"
2 Boulanger: "Sous"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918), "Reflets", 1911, published 1911 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], Ricordi [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Raoul Gradis (1861 - 1943), "Reflets" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Thomas Oboe Lee (b. 1945), "Reflets", 2020 [ voice and piano ], from Chansons de Maeterlinck, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carlos López Buchardo (1881 - 1948), "Reflets", 1916, first performed 1916 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Reflets" [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luctor Ponse (1914 - 1998), "Reflets", 1940-41, published 1950 [ high voice and piano or orchestra ], from Trois chants, no. 2, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Lev L'vovich Kobylinsky (1889 - 1947) ; composed by Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Bernard Miall) , first published 1915
- ENG English (Korin Kormick) , "Reflections", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Franziska Heinzen) , "Widerspiegelungen", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
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: 73
Reflections
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Under the rising water of the dream,
My soul is afraid, my soul is afraid.
And the moon shines in my heart
Plunged into the well-springs of the dream!
Under the mournful boredom of the reeds,
Only the profound reflection[s] of things,
Of lilies, of palms, and of roses,
Still weep at the bottom of the waters.
The flowers drop their petals one by one
On the reflection of the sky
In order to sink eternally
Under the water of the dream and into the moon.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Korin Kormick, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2004-10-19
Line count: 12
Word count: 86