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Dès que la [nuit]1 monte au ciel, [le monde]2 est à nous, et aux dieux. Nous allons des champs à la source, des bois obscurs [aux clairières]3, où nous mènent nos pieds nus. Les petites étoiles brillent assez pour les petites ombres que nous sommes. Quelquefois, sous les branches basses, nous trouvons des biches endormies. Mais plus charmant la nuit que toute autre chose, il est un lieu connu de nous seuls et qui nous attire à travers la forêt : un buisson de roses mystérieuses. Car rien n'est divin sur la terre à l'égal du parfum des roses dans la nuit. Comment se fait-il qu'au temps où j'étais seule je ne m'en sentais pas enivrée ?
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 in some editions, and K. Sorabji, "lune"
2 K. Sorabji: "la Nuit"
3 K. Sorabji: "au Clairière"
Authorship:
- by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Roses dans la nuit", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 33 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Marcel Dupré (1886 - 1971), "Roses dans la nuit", op. 6 no. 2, published 1920 [ high voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies tirées des Chansons de Bilitis, no. 2, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
- by Kaikhosru Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "Roses du soir", op. 1 no. 2, KSS 3 (1915), published 2002, first performed 2001 [ voice and piano ], Bath, The Sorabji Archive [sung text checked 2 times]
- by Aimée Strohl (1865 - 1941), "Roses dans la nuit ", published 1900 [ high voice and piano ], from Bilitis, Poème en 12 chants, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Toledo & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Marvin J. Ward) , no title, copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "Evening roses", written 2002, first published 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , written c2005, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Rosen der Nacht", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this text: Marvin J. Ward , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 17
Word count: 117
Sobald die Nacht am Himmel zieht herauf, gehört die Welt uns und den Göttern. Wir gehen von den Feldern dann zur Quelle, zu Lichtungen in dunklen Wäldern, wohin uns uns're nackten Füße leiten. Die Sternlein leuchten hell genug den kleinen Schatten, die wir sind. Zuweilen, unter tiefen Zweigen, begegnen Rehen wir, die schlafen. Doch was die Nacht noch mehr verzaubert, das ist ein Ort, den nur wir kennen und der herbei uns lockt quer durch den Wald: ein Strauch geheimnisvoller Rosen. Denn nichts auf Erden ist so göttlich wie Duft von Rosen in der Nacht. Wie kommt es, dass in meiner Einsamkeit ich nicht berauscht von ihnen war?
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2013 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact:
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Roses dans la nuit", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 33
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-06
Line count: 17
Word count: 108