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.

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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

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 (1835 - 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 ] [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Serge Gut (b. 1927), "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 Z. Jaume Saint-Hilaire, Mlle. , "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, 2^ème 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 - 2^ième 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.
    

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 text: 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: 131

Say, young beauty,
Where do you wish to go?
The sail swells,
The breeze will blow.

The oar is made of ivory,
The flag is of silk,
The helm is of fine gold;
I have for ballast an orange,
For a sail, the wing of an angel,
For a deck boy, a seraph.

Say, young beauty,
Where do you wish to go?
The sail swells,
The breeze will blow.

Is it to the Baltic?
To the Pacific Ocean?
To the island of Java?
Or else to Norway,
To gather the flower of the snow,
Or the flower of Angsoka?

Say, young beauty,
Where do you wish to go?
The sail swells,
The breeze will blow.

-- Lead me, says the beauty,
To the faithful shore
Where one loves always!
-- This shore, my darling,
We hardly know at all
In the land of Love.