Die Glocken | Die Blätter knospten an den Spitzen der Zweige

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by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Les feuilles s'ouvraient sur le bord des...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG GER

Les feuilles s'ouvraient sur le bord des branches
    Délicatement.
Les cloches tintaient, légères et franches,
    Dans le ciel clément.

Rythmique et fervent comme une antienne,
    Ce lointain appel
Me remémorait la blancheur chrétienne
    Des fleurs de l'autel.

Ces cloches parlaient d'heureuses années,
    Et, dans le grand bois,
Semblaient reverdir les feuilles fanées,
    Des jours d'autrefois.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Romance", appears in Les Aveux, in Dilettantisme [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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Les Cloches", L. 65/(79) no. 1 (1891) [ voice and piano ], from Deux Romances, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Jeff Smallman (b. 1965), "Les Cloches", published 2003 [ high voice and piano ], from Tableaux éternels, no. 6, Hensall, Ontario (Canada), Lighthouse Music Publications [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant A. Lewis) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die Glocken", copyright © 2006, (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: 55

Die Glocken

Language: German (Deutsch) after the French (Français)

Die Blätter knospten an den Spitzen der Zweige -
zart.
Die Glocken klangen, sanft und rein,
im milden Äther.

Rhythmisch und inbrünstig wie ein Antiphon
erinnerte mich dieses ferne Rufen
an die christliche Reinheit
der Altarblumen.

Diese Glocken berichteten  von glücklichen Jahren,
und im weiten Wald
schienen sie die welken Blätter vergangener Tage
ergrünen zu lassen.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2006 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Romance", appears in Les Aveux, in Dilettantisme
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2006-01-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 55