La courtisane | Le soleil de Venise deviendra de l'or

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Die Kurtisane

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: FRE

Venedigs Sonne wird in meinem Haar 
ein Gold bereiten: aller Alchemie 
erlauchten Ausgang. Meine Brauen, die 
den Brücken gleichen, siehst du sie 

hinführen ob der lautlosen Gefahr 
der Augen, die ein heimlicher Verkehr 
an die Kanäle schließt, so daß das Meer 
in ihnen steigt und fällt und wechselt. Wer 

mich einmal sah, beneidet meinen Hund, 
weil sich auf ihm oft in zerstreuter Pause 
die Hand, die nie an keiner Glut verkohlt, 

die unverwundbare, geschmückt, erholt -. 
Und Knaben, Hoffnungen aus altem Hause, 
gehn wie an Gift an meinem Mund zugrund.

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Die Kurtisane", appears in Neue Gedichte, first published 1892 [author's text not yet checked 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 Ernst Gernot Klussmann (1901 - 1975), "Die Kurtisane", published 1959, Hamburg : Hans Sikorski Musikverlag [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Maux (1893 - 1971), "Die Kurtisane", op. 389 no. 4 (1938), from Frauen -- 5 Melodramen nach Rainer Maria Rilke, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "Die Kurtisane", op. 51 (Drie liederen) no. 2 (1965) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La courtisane", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 90

La courtisane

Language: French (Français) after the German (Deutsch)

Le soleil de Venise deviendra de l'or
dans mes cheveux : dénouement
de toute illustre alchimie. Vois-tu
mes sourcils, pareils à des ponts,

conduire vers le danger muet
de mes yeux que ferme un secret trafic
sur le canal, de sorte qu'en eux la mer
monte et descend et change. Qui

un jour me vit, envie mon chien,
car souvent sur lui, lors de pauses occasionnelles,
ma main, qui à aucune braise ne s'est jamais brûlée,

invulnérable, parée, se repose --
Et des enfants, espoirs de vielles maisons
se consument au poison de ma bouche.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2012 by Pierre Mathé, (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:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), "Die Kurtisane", appears in Neue Gedichte, first published 1892
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-01-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 93