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by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695)

Le lion devenu vieux
Language: French (Français) 
Le Lion, terreur des forêts,
Chargé d'ans et pleurant son antique prouesse,
Fut enfin attaqué par ses propres sujets,
Devenus forts par sa faiblesse.
Le Cheval s'approchant lui donne un coup de pied ;
Le Loup un coup de dent, le Boeuf un coup de corne.
Le malheureux Lion, languissant, triste, et morne,
Peut a peine rugir, par l'âge estropié.
Il attend son destin, sans faire aucunes plaintes ;
Quand voyant l'Ane même à son antre accourir :
"Ah ! c'est trop, lui dit-il ; je voulais bien mourir ;
Mais c'est mourir deux fois que souffrir tes atteintes."

Text Authorship:

  • by Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695), "Le Lion devenu vieux", written 1668, appears in Fables, Livre III, no. 14 [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 Isabelle Aboulker (b. 1938), "Le Lion devenu vieux", 2002?, published 2018 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies pour voix et piano, no. 18, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Melchior Alexandre Bruneau (1823 - 1898), "Le lion devenu vieux", op. 377 no. 15 (1879) [ low voice and piano or harmonium ], from 25 fables de La Fontaine, no. 15 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Louis (Trouillon) Lacombe (1818 - 1884), "Le lion devenu vieux" [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Florent Schmitt (1870 - 1958), "Le lion devenu vieux", op. 130 no. 2 (1953), published 1954 [ four-part mixed chorus and piano ], from Fables sans morales, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-10-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 93

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