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L'homme a, pour payer sa rançon, Deux champs au tuf profond et riche, Qu'il faut qu'il remue et défriche Avec le fer de la raison ; Pour obtenir la moindre rose, Pour extorquer quelques épis, Des pleurs salés de son front gris Sans cesse il faut qu'il les arrose. L'un est l'Art, et l'autre l'Amour. — Pour rendre le juge propice, Lorsque de la stricte justice Paraîtra le terrible jour, Il faudra lui montrer des granges Pleines de moissons, et des fleurs Dont les formes et les couleurs Gagnent le suffrage des Anges.
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Épaves, Amsterdam: À l'enseigne du Coq, 1866, in Pièces diverses, pages 133-134. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Spleen et Idéal, page 233.
First published by À l'enseigne du Coq in Les Épaves, 1866; also appears under Spleen et Idéal as number 98 in the 1868 edition of Les Fleurs du mal.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La Rançon", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 98, appears in Les Épaves, in 4. Pièces diverses, no. 19, Amsterdam, À l'enseigne du Coq, first published 1866 [author's text checked 3 times 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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "La Rançon", op. 8 no. 2 (1871?), published 1879 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El rescat", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The ransom", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 92
Man has, in order to pay his ransom, Two fields of soil, deep and rich, Which he must plow and clear With the iron blade of reason; To obtain the smallest rose, To extort the same [meager] ears of corn, The salty tears of his greying forehead, Without ceasing, must be used by him to water [the field]! One [field] is Art and the other, Love. — To entice the judge to be favorable, When, [full] of ultimate justice Dawns the terrible day, [Man] will show him barns Full of crops, and of flowers, The forms and colors of which [Will] earn the prayers of the angels.
Line 1-4: blade: implying the plowshare, or, share, that is the large blade cutting into the soil
Line 2-3: greying forehead: might also be translated "ashen brow"
Line 3-3: ultimate justice: refers to the Day of Judgment in the Bible; the Latin Dies irae text used in most requiems uses the word "stricte" to refer to "precise" or "justified" judgment which cannot be appealed.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La Rançon", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 98, appears in Les Épaves, in 4. Pièces diverses, no. 19, Amsterdam, À l'enseigne du Coq, first published 1866
This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 16
Word count: 107