Barque d'or
Language: French (Français)
Dans une barque d'Orient
S'en revenaient trois jeunes filles ;
Trois jeunes filles d'Orient
S'en revenaient en barque d'or.
Une qui était noire
Et qui tenait le gouvernail,
Sur ses lèvres, aux roses essences,
Nous rapportait d'étranges histoires
Dans le silence.
Une qui était brune
Et qui tenait la voile en main,
Et dont les pieds étaient ailés,
Nous rapportait des gestes d'ange,
En son immobilité.
Mais une qui était blonde,
Qui dormait à l'avant,
Dont les cheveux tombaient dans l'onde
Comme du soleil levant,
Nous rapportait sous ses paupières,
La lumière.
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• H. Dutilleux H. Dutilleux sets stanzas 1, 3, 2, 1
First published in the revue La Wallonie, Liège, 1893, and then later in Entrevisions, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, 1898.
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 Henri Dutilleux (1916 - 2013), "Barque d'or", 1937?, first performed 1937, stanzas 1,3,2,1 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Paul Dutilleux [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gabriel-André Fabre (1858 - 1921), "Barque d'or", published [1897] [ mezzo-soprano or baritone, piano, violin or cello ad libitum ], Paris, Éd. Henri Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
- by Victor Legley (1915 - 1994), "Barque d'or", op. 15 no. 3 (1944) [ contralto or alto and piano ], from Cinq mélodies françaises, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Anny Mesritz-van Velthuysen (1887 - 1965), "Barque d'or", 1932, copyright © 1948 [ voice and orchestra ], from Trois Chansons, no. 3, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Golden Barque", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-03-14
Line count: 20
Word count: 91
Golden Barque
Language: English after the French (Français)
In a barque from the Orient
Were returning three young girls,
Three young girls from the Orient
Were returning in a golden barque.
One whose hair was black
And whose hand was on the tiller,
Upon her lips with rosy essences
Brought us back strange stories
Amid silence.
One whose hair was brown,
And who held the sail in her hand
And whose feet bore wings,
Brought us back angelic gestures
In her immobility.
But one whose hair was blonde,
Who slept in the bow,
Whose hair fell into the wave
As if from the rising sun,
Brought us back beneath her eyelids
Light.
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2025-11-27
Line count: 20
Word count: 104
