by
Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979)
Soir d'hiver
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Une jeune femme berce son enfant.
Elle est seule, elle pleure, mais elle chante,
Car il faut bien qu'il entende
la chanson douce et tendre pour qu'il s'endorme.
"Voici Noël, mon petit enfant bleu.
Les cloches sonneront
pour que tu sois joyeux."
Celui qu'elle aime est parti...
et la chanson s'arrête!
Elle dit:
"Où est-il à cette heure?
Entend-il ma voix?
et sait-il que je vis?"
Elle pleure si simplement
que le coeur en a mal.
Elle regarde son fils
et cherche s'il ressemble
à celui qu'elle attend inlassablement,
de toute son âme, de toute sa tendresse!
Elle pleure, mais elle espère!
Elle entend de loin la Victoire,
elle devine la lutte sans merci,
mais elle croit à la Justice,
elle sait que toute une vie s'est donnée,
joyeuse et fière, et elle attend,
Auprès de ce berceau si petit,
qui tient le coeur d'un homme.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Claycomb) , "Winter evening", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Laura Claycomb
This text was added to the website: 2007-10-10
Line count: 27
Word count: 146
Winter evening
Language: English  after the French (Français)
A young woman rocks her child.
She's alone, she weeps, but she sings,
For he has to hear
the sweet and tender song so he'll fall asleep.
"Christmas is here, my little child of blue.
The bells will ring,
bringing happiness to you."
The man she loves has gone...
and the song stops!
She says:
"Where is he now?
Does he hear my voice?
and does he know that I'm alive?"
She weeps so simply
that it makes her heart hurt.
She gazes at her son
and sees if he resembles
the one for whom she waits untiringly,
with all her soul, with all her tenderness!
She weeps, but she hopes!
She hears Victory from afar,
she guesses it's a thankless struggle,
yet she believes in Justice,
she knows that a whole life, happy and proud,
has been given over, and she waits
next to this tiny cradle,
that holds a man's heart.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Laura Claycomb, (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:
- a text in French (Français) by Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979), "Soir d'hiver"
This text was added to the website: 2007-10-10
Line count: 27
Word count: 153