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by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872)

Dites, la jeune belle
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG GER ITA
Dites, la jeune belle,
Où voulez-vous aller ?
La voile [ouvre]1 son aile,
La brise va souffler !

L'aviron est d'ivoire,
Le pavillon de moire,
Le gouvernail d'or fin ;
J'ai pour lest une orange,
Pour voile une aile d'ange,
Pour mousse un séraphin.

Dites, la jeune belle !
Où voulez-vous aller?
La voile [ouvre]1 son aile,
La brise va souffler !

Est-ce dans la Baltique,
[Sur]2 la mer Pacifique,
Dans l'île de Java ?
Ou bien [dans la]3 Norwége,
Cueillir la fleur de neige,
Ou la fleur d'Angsoka ?

Dites, la jeune belle,
Où voulez-vous aller?
[La voile ouvre son aile,
La brise va souffler!]4

-- Menez-moi, dit la belle,
À la rive fidèle
Où l'on aime toujours.
-- Cette rive, ma chère,
On ne la connaît guère
Au pays des amours.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   H. Berlioz •   C. Gounod 

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Théophile Gauthier, La comédie de la mort, Desessart editeur, Paris, 1838, page 309.

1 Berlioz: "enfle"
2 Berlioz, Gounod: "Dans"
3 Berlioz, Gounod: "est-ce en"
4 omitted by Berlioz and Gounod

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "Barcarolle", appears in La Comédie de la Mort, first published 1838 [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 Delphin Marie Balleyguier (d. 1899), "Le pays des amours", subtitle: "Barcarolle", published 1860 [ high voice and piano ], from Les chansons des troubadours, no. 6, Paris, Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by François Emmanuel Joseph Bazin (1816 - 1878), "Dites, la jeune belle" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jules Beer (1843 - 1913), "Où voulez-vous aller ?", published 1880 [ soprano and piano ], Paris, Brandus [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis (Ludwig) Benedictus (1850 - 1921), "Barcarolle", published [1875] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Durand, Schoenewerk [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869), "L'île inconnue", op. 7 no. 6 [ voice and orchestra ], from Les Nuits d'Été, no. 6, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Honoré Bizalion , "Barcarolle", <<1855 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Schonenberger [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis-Charles-Bonaventure-Alfred Bruneau (1857 - 1934), "Barcarolle", 1932, copyright © 1933 [ high voice and piano ], from Plein Air, dix poèmes [de Théophile Gautier], no. 7, Paris, Éditions "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Allyre Bureau (1810 - 1859), "Où voulez-vous aller?", 1834 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Auguste Charles Cœdès (1840 - 1884), "Dites, la jeune belle", subtitle: "Barcarolle", op. 10, published 1867 [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Marius Constant (1925 - 2004), "L'île inconnue", published 1984 [ soprano or tenor and instrumental ensemble ], from Nuits d'été daraus, no. 3, a re-orchestration of the melody by Berlioz ; Paris, München, Salabert [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Alphonse Devin-Duvivier (b. 1827), "Mirage", subtitle: "Caprice", published 1852 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Chabal [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Émile Durand (1830 - 1903), "La Brise va souffler", subtitle: "Barcarolle", published 1879 [ high voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Théodore Michaelis [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Eugène Gautier (1822 - 1878), "La brise va souffler" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by L. Giunti-Bellini , "Barcarolle", c1855 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Où voulez-vous aller?", subtitle: "Barcarolle", CG 419 (1839) [ voice, piano, and violin or violoncello or flute or harmonium ], also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Serge Gut (1927 - 2014), "Barcarolle" [ soprano and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Charles Haenni (1867 - 1953), "Barcarolle", published 1976 [ high voice and piano ], from Choix de romances, vol 2, no. 1, Villeret (Suisse), Éd. Charles Superchi [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Paul Henrion (1819 - 1901), "Dites, la jeune belle - Barcarolle", published 1876 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Ch. Egrot [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Zoé Jaume (1827 - 1904), "La rive inconnue", subtitle: "Barcarolle", published 1862 [ voice and piano ], from Paroles en musique + 8 Mélodies et chansons, no. 2, Paris, E. Saint-Hilaire [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Léon Jouret (1828 - 1905), "Barcarolle" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Georges Kastner (1810 - 1867), "Barcarolle", published 1854 [ six-part men's chorus and piano ad libitum ], from Les chants de la vie, no. 17, Paris, Brandus [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Ernest-Louis-Victor-Jules L'Épine (1826 - 1893), "Barcarolle", published 1858 [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Henri Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by François Masini (1804 - 1863), "Dites, la jeune belle" [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Victor Massé (1822 - 1884), "Barcarolle", 1851, published 1867 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 16, Paris, Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880), "Barcarolle", 1852, published 1852 [ voice and piano or orchestra ], from Les voix mystérieuses, no. 6, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Édouard Pascal , "L'île inconnue - Où voulez-vous aller", published 1845 [ voice and piano ], from 25 Morceaux de chant, 2ème recueil, no. 14, Paris, Pacini [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Dites, la jeune belle", published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 15, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Jean-Théodore Radoux (1835 - 1911), "Barcarolle", published 1863 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, 1er recueil, no. 1, Paris, E. Heu [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Ferdinand Raynal , "Barcarolle" [ high voice and piano ], Bordeaux, Ravayre-Ravier [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Napoléon-Henri Reber (1807 - 1880), "La rive inconnue", published 1880 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano - 2ième receuil, no. 6, Paris, Richault [sung text not yet checked]
  • by James Hotchkiss Rogers (1857 - 1940), "Barcarolle", published 1905 [ medium voice and piano ], from Two French Songs, for medium voice with piano accompaniment, no. 1, New York, G. Schirmer [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Anselm Vinée (1847 - 1921), "Barcarolle", op. 10 no. 2 [ voice and piano ], Éd. de la Nouvelle Revue Parisienne, supplément [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 - 1909) , "Love at sea" [an adaptation] ; composed by Rutland Boughton, Norman Houston O'Neill, Percy Reeve.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in English, a translation by Arthur Warren ; composed by Adelaide Fredrika "Armorell" Cochran.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) , "Das unbekannte Land" ; composed by Hector Berlioz.
    • Go to the text.
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Salomon Hermann, Ritter von Mosenthal (1821 - 1877) ; composed by Charles Gounod.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Dite, mia giovane bella", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 129

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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