Letzte Grabinschrift | Unter des Lorbeers dunklem Laub

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

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Dernière épitaphe

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG GER

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.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• C. Koechlin

View original text (without footnotes)
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 , "Dernière épitaphe", 1921/1937 [high voice and piano], from Chansons de Bilitis, 6ème recueil, no. 4. [ sung text not verified ]
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 verified 1 time]

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

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

Letzte Grabinschrift

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

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
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-03-28
Line count: 18
Word count: 107