by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Elle jouait avec sa chatte
Language: French (Français)
Elle jouait avec sa chatte, Et c'était merveille de voir La main blanche et la blanche patte S'ébattre dans l'ombre du soir. Elle cachait — la scélérate ! — Sous ses mitaines de fil noir Ses meurtriers ongles d'agate, Coupants et clairs comme un rasoir. L'autre aussi faisait la sucrée Et rentrait sa griffe acérée, Mais le diable n'y perdait rien... Et dans le boudoir où, sonore, Tintait son rire aérien Brillaient quatre points de phosphore.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, pages 65-66.
Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Femme et chatte", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 4. Caprices, no. 1, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [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):
- by Serge Bortkiewicz (1877 - 1952), "La femme et la chatte", op. 23 no. 6, published 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sept Poésies de Paul Verlaine = Sieben Gedichte von Paul Verlaine, no. 6, Leipzig, Milan: Éd. Elite No. 205 Edition D. Rahter (4408), also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Michel Boulnois (b. 1907), "Femme et chatte", [1937] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Cornet (d. 1946), "Femme et chatte", [1921] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile-Henri-J.-B. Defosse, dit Henry Defosse (1883 - 1956), "Femme et chatte", 1908, published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Rouart Lerolle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Noël Dervieux (1921 - 2003), "Femme et chatte", [1945] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by M. Jakobson , "La femme au chatte" [ voice and piano ], St. Petersburg [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raoul Laparra (1876 - 1943), "Femme et chatte", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émilienne Machabey-Ganeval (b. 1896), "Femme et chatte", published 1933 [ voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
- by Florent Schmitt (1870 - 1958), "Femme et chatte", op. 21 no. 2 (1897), published 1897 [ voice and piano ], from Trois Chansons, no. 2, Paris, Hamelle ; later published 1911, Paris, Costel [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Simon , "Parallèle", 1954 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tandrède Thibaud , "Femme et chatte", [1929] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Serge Bortkiewicz (1877 - 1952) , "Die Frau und die Katze" ; composed by Serge Bortkiewicz.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "Woman and Cat", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 4. Caprices, no. 1
- GER German (Deutsch) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-10-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 76