by
Catulle Mendès (1841 - 1909)
Lied
Language: French (Français)
Nez au vent, cœur plein d'aise,
Berthe emplit, fraise à fraise,
Dans le bois printanier
Son frais panier.
Les déesses de marbre
La regardent sous l'arbre
D'un air plein de douceur,
Comme une soeur,
Et dans de folles rixes
Passe l'essaim des Nixes
Et des Elfes badins
Et des Ondins.
Un Elfe dit à Berthe:
"Là-bas, sous l'ombre verte,
Il est dans les sentiers
De beaux fraisiers."
Un Elfe à la moustache
Très fine et l'air bravache
D'un reître ou d'un varlet
Quand il lui plaît...
"Conduisez-moi," dit Berthe,
"Là-bas... sous l'ombre verte,
Où sont dans les sentiers
Les beaux fraisiers!"
Leste comme une chèvre,
Berthe courait: "Ta lèvre
Est un fraisier charmant,"
Reprit l'amant.
"Le baiser, fraise rose,
Donne à la bouche éclose
Qui le laisse saisir,
Un doux plaisir!"
"S'il est ainsi," dit Berthe,
"Laissons sous l'ombre verte
En paix, dans les sentiers,
Les beaux fraisiers!"
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):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Marvin J. Ward) , "Song", copyright © 2007, (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: 36
Word count: 148
Song
Language: English after the French (Français)
Nose to the wind, light-hearted
Bertha fills, strawberry by strawberry,
In the springtime woods
Her new basket.
The marble goddesses
Watch her under the tree
With a sweet gaze,
Like a sister.
And in wild scuffles
The swarm of Nixies
And playful Elves
And Undines passes.
An Elf says to Bertha:
"Over there, in the green shade,
There are, in the paths,
Beautiful strawberry plants."
An Elf with a thin mustache
And the blustering mien
Of a thug or a page
When it pleases him...
"Take me," says Bertha,
"Over there... into the green shade,
Where they are, in the paths,
The beautiful strawberry plants!"
As nimbly as a goat
Bertha ran: "Your lip
Is a charming strawberry plant,"
The lover continues.
"The kiss, pink strawberry,
Gives to the opened mouth
That lets one seize it,
A sweet pleasure!"
"If this is so," says Bertha,
Let us leave, in the green shade,
At peace, in the paths,
The beautiful strawberry plants!"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Marvin J. Ward, (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 Catulle Mendès (1841 - 1909), "Lied", written 1863, appears in Poésies, in 1. Philoméla, Éd. Hetzel, first published 1863
This text was added to the website: 2007-11-08
Line count: 36
Word count: 161
