Grabgesang | Singt einen Grabgesang, ihr Musen Mytilenens, singt!

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by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Chant funèbre

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG GER

Chantez un chant funèbre, muses Mytiléniennes, chantez!  
La terre est sombre comme un vêtement de deuil 
et les arbres jaunes frissonnent comme des chevelures coupées.

Héraïos! ô mois triste et doux! les feuilles tombent
[doucement comme la neige;]¹ 
le soleil est plus pénétrant 
dans la forêt éclaircie... 
Je n'entends plus rien que le silence.

Voici qu'on a porté au tombeau Pittakos chargé d'années.
Beaucoup sont morts, que j'ai connus. Et celle qui vit 
est pour moi comme si elle n'etait plus.

[Celui-ci est le dixième automne 
que j'ai vu mourir sur cette plaine.]²
Il est temps aussi que je disparaisse. 
Pleurez avec moi, muses Mytiléniennes, pleurez [sur mes pas!]²!

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Koechlin

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Koechlin: "tombent, neige dorée"
² omitted by Koechlin.

Text Authorship:

by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Chant funèbre", written 1894, appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Élégies à Mytilène, no. 98, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897 [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 André-Marie Cuvelier , "Chant funèbre", 1935 [high voice and piano], from Chansons de Bilitis, 3ème recueil, no. 3. [ sung text not verified ]
by Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), "Chant funèbre", op. 39 no. 3 (1906-08), published 1923 [medium voice and piano], from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 3, Éditions Maurice Senart [ sung text verified 1 time]

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

ENG English (Sarah Daughtrey) , title 1: "Funeral song", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Grabgesang", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sarah Daughtrey

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 112

Grabgesang

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

Singt einen Grabgesang, ihr Musen Mytilenens, singt!
Das Land ist dunkel wie ein Trauerkleid,
und die gelbfarbnen Bäume schauern wie geschnittnes Haar.

Heraios! Monat, traurig, mild! Die Blätter fallen
wie der Schnee so sacht;
die Sonne dringt noch tiefer
in den lichten Wald ...
Nur Schweigen hör ich noch.

Hier hat man Pittakos zu Grab getragen, hochbetagt.
Und viele sind gestorben, die ich kannte. Und sie, die lebt,
sie ist für mich, als wäre sie nicht mehr.

Und dieser ist der zehnte Herbst,
in dem ich Sterben sah in diesem Land.
Es ist auch Zeit für mich, zu gehn.
Weint mit mir, Musen Mytilenens, beweinet meine Schritte!

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, "Chant funèbre", written 1894, appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Élégies à Mytilène, no. 98, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-03-12
Line count: 15
Word count: 106