La Dormeuse
Language: French (Français)
Figure de femme, sur son sommeil
fermée, on dirait qu'elle goûte
quelque bruit à nul autre pareil
qui la remplit toute.
De son corps sonore qui dort
elle tire la jouissance
d'être un murmure encor
sous le regard du silence.
Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 204.
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):
- by Raffaele d'Alessandro (1911 - 1959), "La Dormeuse", op. 14 (Deux mélodies) (1936) [ tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Narcís Bonet (b. 1933), "La Dormeuse", 1989 [ high voice and piano ], from Trois Mélodies (Rainer Maria Rilke), no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Natalie Goossens (b. 1976), "La dormeuse", 2020 [ mixed chorus ], from Cinq chansons d’espoir, no. 3, Euprint [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "La Dormeuse", op. 21 no. 12 (1983) [ medium voice and piano ], from Vergers, no. 12 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "La Dormeuse", op. 65 (Neuf mélodies) no. 6 (1973) [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Woman Sleeping", copyright © 2025, (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: 8
Word count: 40
Woman Sleeping
Language: English after the French (Français)
A woman's face, closed upon
its sleep: you might say she tastes
some sound unlike any other
that fills her completely.
From her sonorous sleeping body
she draws the pleasure
of being a murmur once more
under the gaze of silence.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2025-09-03
Line count: 8
Word count: 41
