Ô Mort, vieux capitaine, il est temps ! levons l'ancre ! [Ce]1 pays nous ennuie, ô Mort ! Appareillons ! Si le ciel et la mer sont noirs comme de l'encre, Nos cœurs que tu connais sont remplis de rayons ! Verse-nous ton poison pour qu'il nous réconforte ! Nous voulons, tant ce feu nous brûle le cerveau, Plonger au fond du gouffre, Enfer ou Ciel, qu'importe ? Au fond de l'Inconnu pour trouver du nouveau !
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View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in La Mort, pages 312-313. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in La Mort, page 351. Note: This is the eighth part in an eight-part poem, "Le Voyage". The poem is number 126 in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 151 in subsequent editions. In both the 1861 and 1868 editions of Les Fleurs du mal, the poem is dedicated to Maxime Du Camp.
1 Gretchaninov: "Le"Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, in 126. Le Voyage, no. 8, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861 [author's text checked 3 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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Pour le voyage", 1990, copyright © 1990 [ medium voice and piano ], from La Mort, no. 11 [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov (1864 - 1956), "La Mort", op. 48 no. 5 (1909), published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal, no. 5, Moscow: Gutheil, also set in Russian (Русский) [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Jonathan Harvey (1939 - 2012), "La Mort", 1975, from Correspondances, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Werner Anton Jaegerhuber (1900 - 1953), "Ô Mort, vieux capitaine", 1943 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Ernst Ludwig Schellenberg (1883 - 1964) ; composed by Erich J. Wolff.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Goll) , "Cesta VIII"
- ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Death", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Death", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , no title, appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Der Tod, in Die Reise, no. 8
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Morte, mio vecchio capitano...", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) (Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva) , no title
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 70
Смерть! Старый капитан! В дорогу! Ставь ветрило! Нам скучен этот край! О, Смерть, скорее в путь! Пусть небо и вода — куда черней чернила, Знай, тысячами солнц сияет наша грудь! Обманутым пловцам раскрой свои глубины! Мы жаждем, обозрев под солнцем всё, что есть, На дно твоё нырнуть — Ад или Рай — едино! — В неведомого глубь — чтоб новое обресть!
About the headline (FAQ)
Show a transliteration: Default | DIN | GOST
Note on TransliterationsText Authorship:
- by Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (1892 - 1941), no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, in 126. Le Voyage, no. 8, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-08-11
Line count: 8
Word count: 61