by (Paul) Jules Barbier (1825 - 1901) and by Michel Carré (1822 - 1872)
Translation © by Laura L. Nagle

Connais‑tu le pays où fleurit l'oranger?
Language: French (Français)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Available translation(s): ENG
Connais-tu le pays où fleurit l'oranger? 
Le pays des fruits d'or et des roses vermeilles,
Où la brise est plus douce et l'oiseau plus léger,
Où dans toute saison butinent les abeilles,
Où rayonne et sourit, comme un bienfait de Dieu,
Un éternel printemps sous un ciel toujours bleu! 
Hélas! Que ne puis-je te suivre
Vers ce rivage heureux d'où le sort m'exila! 
C'est là! C'est là que je voudrais vivre,
Aimer, aimer et mourir! 
C'est là que je voudrais vivre, c'est là, 
oui, c'est là! 

Connais-tu la maison où l'on m'attend là-bas? 
La salle aux lambris d'or, où des hommes de marbre
M'appellent dans la nuit en me tendant les bras? 
Et la cour où l'on danse à l'ombre d'un grand arbre? 
Et le lac transparent où glissent sur les eaux
Mille bateaux légers pareils à des oiseaux? 
Hélas! Que ne puis-je te suivre
Vers ce pays lointain d'où le sort m'exila! 
C'est là! C'est là que je voudrais vivre,
Aimer, aimer et mourir! 
C'est là que je voudrais vivre, c'est là, 
oui, c'est là!

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship:

Based on:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Czech (Čeština), a translation by Ladislav Quis (1846 - 1913) ; composed by Zdenko Antonín Václav Fibich.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , copyright © ; composed by Ralph Shapey.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Achille Maffre de Baugé (1855 - 1912) , no title ; composed by Jules Goudareau.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Louis Gallet (1835 - 1898) [an adaptation] ; composed by Charles Gounod.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Victor Wilder (1835 - 1892) [an adaptation] ; composed by Henri Duparc.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation (Comte de P. Perthuis ? ) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Adolf Reichel.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Théodore Toussenel (1806 - 1885) ; composed by Hippolyte Monpou.
  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by Émile Deschamps (1791 - 1871) ; composed by Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), adapted by ? Stosberg [an adaptation] ; composed by Joseph Geissler.
  • Also set in Italian (Italiano), a translation by Giuseppe Zaffira (flourished 1868-1886) , "Non conosci il bel suol" [an adaptation] ; composed by Ambroise Thomas.
  • Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Adam Mickiewicz (1798 - 1855) , "Do H(enryki Ankwiczówny). — Wezwanie do Neapolu" [an adaptation] ; composed by Stanisław Moniuszko.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1803 - 1873) , no title ; composed by Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg, Eduard Yulyevich Goldstein, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Akhilles Nikolayevich Alferaki.

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

  • ENG English (Laura L. Nagle) , "Do you know the land", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Paul Cadrin

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-10
Line count: 24
Word count: 176

Do you know the land
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Do you know the land where the orange tree blossoms?
The country of golden fruits and marvelous roses,
Where the breeze is softer and birds lighter,
Where bees gather pollen in every season,
And where shines and smiles, like a gift from God,
An eternal springtime under an ever-blue sky!
Alas! but I cannot follow you
To that happy shore from which fate has exiled me!
There! It is there that I should like to live,
To love, to love, and to die!
It is there that I should like to live, it is there,
yes, there!

Do you know the house there where I am awaited? 
The gold-panelled room where men made of marble
Call to me at night, reaching their arms out to me?
And the courtyard where people dance in the shadow of a great tree?
And the lake upon whose limpid waters
A thousand light boats glide like birds?
Alas! but I cannot follow you
To that distant land from which fate has exiled me!
There! It is there that I should like to live,
To love, to love, and to die!
It is there that I should like to live, it is there, 
yes, there!

Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Laura L. Nagle, (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:

Based on:

 

This text was added to the website: 2007-01-15
Line count: 24
Word count: 200