by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903)
L'étang
Language: French (Français)
Plein de très vieux poissons frappés de cécité, L'étang, sous un ciel bas roulant de sourds tonnerres, Etale entre ses joncs plusieurs fois centenaires La clapotante horreur de son opacité. Là-bas, des farfadets servent de luminaires A plus d'un marais noir, sinistre et redouté ; Mais lui ne se révèle en ce lieu déserté Que par ses bruits affreux de crapauds poitrinaires. Or, la lune qui point tout juste en ce moment, Semble s'y regarder si fantastiquement, Que l'on dirait, à voir sa spectrale figure, Son nez plat et le vague étrange de ses dents, Une tête de mort éclairée en dedans Qui viendrait se mirer dans une glace obscure.
Confirmed with Maurice Rollinat, Les Névroses, Paris: Fasquelle, 1917, page 326.
Authorship:
- by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "L'Étang", appears in Les névroses, in 4. Les Spectres, first published 1883 [author's text checked 1 time 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):
- by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861 - 1935), "L'étang" [ voice, clarinet, viola, and piano ], from Rapsodies for voice, clarinet, viola, and piano, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Kaikhosru Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "L'étang", op. 9, KSS 10 (1917), published 2006, first performed 2002 [ voice and piano ], Bath, The Sorabji Archive; critical edition [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "The Pool", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "The Pond", written 2005, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-09-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 110