Dreams | A short child

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.

by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Rêves

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Un enfant court
Autour des marbres...
Une voix sourd
Des hauts parages...

Les yeux si graves
De ceux qui t'aiment
Songent et passent
Entre les arbres...

Aux grandes orgues
De quelque gare
Gronde la vague
Des vieux départs...

Dans un vieux rêve
Au pays vague
Des choses brèves
Qui meurent sages...

Text Authorship:

by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947), "Rêves", written 1912, appears in Pour la musique, Paris, Éd. N.R.F., first published 1914 [author's text not yet checked 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 Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Rêves", 1950 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), "Rêves", M. 79 (1927), published 1927 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Dreams", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 51

Dreams

Language: English after the French (Français)

A short child
Playing about the marbles...
A muffled voice
Of someone highly placed...

Such serious eyes
Of those who love you
Thinking and passing
Among the trees...

From the great organs
Of any station
Rumbling wave
Of old departures...

In an old dream
In the indistinctness¹ of country landscape
Of the brief things
That die wiser...

Translator's note for stanza 3, line 3: vague means vagueness, wave, a wavy texture obscuring clear outlines; this is Symbolist poetry, so all adjectives (esp. regarding color and sound) should have multiple meanings

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2013 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947), "Rêves", written 1912, appears in Pour la musique, Paris, Éd. N.R.F., first published 1914
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-06-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 58