LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,111)
  • Text Authors (19,486)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Philippe Desportes (1545 - 1606)
Translation © by Judith Kellock

Cette fontaine est froide, et son eau...
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Cette fontaine est froide, et son eau doux-coulante,
la couleur d'argent, semble parler d'Amour;
Un herbage mollet reverdit tout autour, 
Et les aunes font ombre à la chaleur brûlante.

Le feuillage obéit à Zéphyr qui l'évente,
Soupirant, amoureux, en ce plaisant séjour;
Le soleil clair de flamme est au milieu du jour,
Et la terre se fend de l'ardeur violente.

Passant, par le travail du long chemin lassé
Brûlé de la chaleur et de la soif pressé, 
Arrête en cette place où ton bonheur te mène;
L'agréable repos ton corps délassera,

L'ombrage et le vent frais ton ardeur chassera,
Et ta soif se perdra dans l'eau de la fontaine.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Philippe Desportes (1545 - 1606), appears in Bergeries [author's text not yet checked 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 Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "D'une fontaine", 1928, published 1988 [ voice and piano ], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. VIII, no. 1, Éditions Max Eschig [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "Une fontaine" [ medium voice and piano ], from Chants d'autrefois: recueil des premières mélodies de V. Massé, no. 7, Éditions Léon Grus [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Marcel Trémois (1891 - 1974), "D'une Fontaine", published [1944] [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux Bergeries de Philippe Desportes, no. 1, Éd. Costallat [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Wladimir Woronoff (1903 - 1980), "D'une fontaine", 1948 [ bass and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Judith Kellock) , "On a fountain", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Judith Kellock

This text was added to the website: 2007-01-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 109

On a fountain
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
This fountain is cold, and its water sweetly flowing,
The color of silver, it seems to speak of love;
A soft meadow grows green again all around,
And the alder trees cast shadows in the burning heat.

The meadow obeys the breeze that fans it.
Sighing amorously on its pleasant course;
The clear sun, flaming at midday,
Cracks open the earth in a violent heat.

Passing, after the labor of a long tired journey,
Parched from the heat, and burdened with thirst,
Stop at this spot where you have been guided to happiness;
In happy respose, your body will regain strength.

The shade and the fresh breeze will chase away the heat.
And your thirst will be quenched in the water of the fountain.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Judith Kellock, (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 Philippe Desportes (1545 - 1606), appears in Bergeries
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2007-01-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 124

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris