Muffle the drums, let the priest advance

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 Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Qu'on voile les tambours, que le prêtre...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Qu'on voile les tambours, que le prêtre s'avance.
A genoux, compagnons, tête nue et silence.
Qu'on dise devant nous la prière des morts.
Nous voulons au tombeau porter le capitaine.
Il est mort en soldat sur la terre chrétienne.
L'âme appartient à Dieu ; l'armée aura le corps.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• L. Boulanger

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Alfred de Musset, Premières poésies: 1829-1835, Paris: Bibliothéque Charpentier, 1896, page 268.

Text Authorship:

by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), no title, appears in Premières poésies, in La Coupe et les Lèvres, excerpt from Act IV, scene 1 (Le Chœur) [author's text checked 2 times 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):

[ None yet in the database ]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

by Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918), "Pour les funérailles d'un soldat", 1912 [ baritone, chorus, and piano (3 hands) ]
- View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 6
Word count: 47

Muffle the drums, let the priest advance

Language: English after the French (Français)

Muffle the drums, let the priest advance.
On your knees, comrades, bare-headed and silent.
Let the prayer for the dead be said before us.
We mean to bear the captain to his tomb.
He died a soldier on Christian soil.
His soul is God's; the army will have his corpse.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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 Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), no title, appears in Premières poésies, in La Coupe et les Lèvres, excerpt from Act IV, scene 1 (Le Chœur)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-11
Line count: 6
Word count: 50