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[Dors :]1 j'ai demandé à Sardes tes jouets, et tes vêtements à Babylone. Dors, tu es fille de Bilitis et d'un roi du soleil levant. Les bois, ce sont les palais qu'on bâtit pour toi seule et que je t'ai donnés. Les troncs des pins, ce sont les colonnes ; les hautes branches, ce sont les voûtes. Dors. Pour qu'il ne t'éveille pas, je vendrai le soleil à la mer. Le vent des ailes de la colombe est moins léger que ton haleine. [Fille]2 de moi, chair de ma chair, [tu]3 diras quand tu ouvriras les yeux, si tu veux la plaine ou la ville, ou la montagne ou la lune, ou le cortège blanc des dieux.
Confirmed with Œuvres complètes de Pierre Louÿs, 1929 - 1931, tome 2 (1894 (Chansons de Bilitis)), Slatkine reprints, 1973, page 61. Note: the text appears as prose paragraphs. We have added line-breaks.
1 Lacerda: "Dors, dors,"2 Lacerda: "Dors, fille"
3 Lacerda: "tu me"
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Berceuse", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 45 [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 Jeanne Bernard (1895 - 1965), "Berceuse" [ voice and piano ], from Trois chansons de Bilitis, no. 3, Paris, Senart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Dandelot (1895 - 1975), "Berceuse", published 1924 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Dandelot (1895 - 1975), "Berceuse", 1924, published 1929, first performed 1929 [ high voice and piano ], from Six Chansons de Bilitis, 1er recueil, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francisco de Lacerda (1869 - 1934), "Berceuse", <<1913 [ high voice and piano ], from Canções Francesas, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Aimée Strohl (1865 - 1941), "Berceuse", published 1900 [ high voice and piano ], from Bilitis, Poème en 12 chants, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Toledo & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), adapted by Edmond Forgemol de Bostquénard [an adaptation] ; composed by Alfredo-Antonio-Maria Barbirolli.
- 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 German (Deutsch), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Wilhelm Kienzl.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Lullaby", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Wiegenlied", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Low [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 119
Schlummre nur: Dein Spielzeug habe ich in Sardis und deine Kleider habe ich in Babylon bestellt. Schlummre, Tochter der Bilitis und eines Königs aus dem Morgenland. Die Wälder, sie sind die Paläste, die man nur dir erbaut, und die ich dir geschenkt. Die Pinienstämme sind die Säulen, die Äste ihrer Kronen das Gewölb. Schlaf. Die Sonne würde ich dem Meer verkaufen, auf dass sie dich nicht wecke. Dein Atem geht noch leichter als die Luft im Flügelschlag der Taube. Tochter mein, Fleisch von meinem Fleische, schlägst du die Augen auf, dann wirst du sagen, was du begehrst, das flache Land oder die Stadt, das Gebirg oder den Mond, oder der Götter weißes Gefolge.
Text 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
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Berceuse", appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Bucoliques en Pamphylie, no. 45
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 113