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Elle me dit: "Quelque chose "Me tourmente." Et j'aperçus Son cou de neige, et, dessus, Un petit insecte rose. J'aurais dû, - mais, sage ou fou, A seize ans, on est farouche, - Voir le baiser sur sa bouche Plus que l'insecte à son cou. On eût dit un coquillage; Dos rose et taché de noir. Les fauvettes pour nous voir Se penchaient dans le feuillage. Sa bouche fraîche était là; [Je me courbai]1 sur la belle, Et je pris la coccinelle; Mais le baiser s'envola. "Fils, apprends comme on me nomme," Dit l'insecte du ciel bleu, "Les bêtes sont au bon Dieu; "Mais la bêtise est à l'homme."
1 Bizet: "Hélas! Je me penchai"
Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "La coccinelle", written 1830, appears in Les Contemplations, in 1. Livre premier -- Aurore, no. 15, first published 1854 [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 Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875), "La coccinelle", op. 21 no. 16 (1868), published 1873 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 16, Paris, Éd. Choudens [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alain Lecompte (b. 1954), "La coccinelle", 2001 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pierre-Jacob Robert-Cantabre , "La coccinelle", published [1921] [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies, I, no. 1, Pau, Éd. Pierre Jacob Cantabre [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921), "La coccinelle", 1868, published 1896 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Hector Salomon (1838 - 1906), "La Coccinelle", published [1877] [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt Mélodies, no. 11, Éd. Brandus & Cie [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Yen-Chiang Che) , "小瓢蟲", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The ladybug", copyright © 2016
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Der Marienkäfer", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 108
Sie sagte mir: „Irgendwas belästigt mich.“ Und ich sah ihren schneeweißen Nacken und auf ihm ein kleines rötliches Insekt. Ich hätte - doch, klug oder irr, mit sechzehn ist man scheu - eher ihren Mund, zum Kuss bereit, sehen sollen als das Insekt auf ihrem Nacken. Man könnte es als Muschel beschreiben, der Rücken rot und schwarz getupft. Die Grasmücken reckten den Hals im Laub, um uns besser zu sehen. Ihr leuchtender Mund war vor mir: ich beugte mich über das schöne Mädchen und nahm den Marienkäfer von ihrem Nacken, doch der Kuss flog davon. „Sohn, lern, wie man mich nennt;“ sagte das Insekt am blauem Himmel, „Tiere sind des Herrn1, Dummheit2 ist des Menschen.“
1 La bête à bon Dieu ist der Herrgottskäfer = Marienkäfer
2 Das Wortspiel „bête“ = Tier, Insekt und „bêtise“ = Dummheit bleibt unübersetzt.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2017 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
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "La coccinelle", written 1830, appears in Les Contemplations, in 1. Livre premier -- Aurore, no. 15, first published 1854
This text was added to the website: 2017-06-07
Line count: 20
Word count: 116