Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Sous les feuilles noires des lauriers, sous les fleurs amoureuses des roses, c'est ici que je suis couchée, moi qui sus tresser le vers au vers, et faire fleurir le baiser. [J'ai grandi sur]1 la terre des nymphes; j'ai vécu dans l'île des amies; je suis morte dans l'île de Kypris. C'est pourquoi mon nom est illustre et ma stèle frottée d'huile. Ne me pleure pas, toi qui t'arrêtes: on m'a fait de belles funérailles: les pleureuses se sont arraché les joues; on a couché dans ma tombe mes miroirs et mes colliers. Et maintenant, sur les pâles prairies d'asphodèles, je me promène, ombre impalpable, et le souvenir de ma vie terrestre est la joie de ma vie souterraine.
1 Koechlin: "Je suis née dans"
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Dernière épitaphe", written 1894, appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Le Tombeau de Bilitis, no. 158, 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 (d. 1947), "Dernière épitaphe", 1921/1937 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, 6ème recueil, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), "Dernière épitaphe", op. 39 no. 5 (1908), published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons de Bilitis, no. 5, Éditions Maurice Senart [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Polish (Polski), a translation by Leopold Staff (1878 - 1957) ; composed by Roman Maciejewski.
- 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.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sarah Daughtrey) , "Last epitaph", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Letzte Grabinschrift", 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: 18
Word count: 120
Unter des Lorbeers dunklem Laub, unter der Liebesrosen Flor, dort ist's, wo ich für immer ruh, ich, die der Verskunst mächtig war und Küsse zum Erblühen brachte. Im Nymphenreich ward ich geborn; auf Sapphos Insel habe ich gelebt; und Kypris' Insel ist mein Totenreich. Deswegen ist erlaucht mein Name, und meine Stele ist poliert mit Öl. Bewein mich nicht, Du, der hier innehält: ein würdiges Begräbnis ward mir ausgerichtet: die Klagefrau'n zerkratzten Ihre Wangen; ins Grab sind mir mein Halsschmuck, meine Spiegel beigelegt. Ich wandle nun auf fahler Flur des Affodill als Schatten, schwerelos, und das Erinnern meines Erdenlebens ist nun die Freude meines Seins im Schattenreich.
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
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs, "Dernière épitaphe", written 1894, appears in Les Chansons de Bilitis, in Le Tombeau de Bilitis, no. 158, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1897
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-28
Line count: 18
Word count: 107