Songs
Les Djinns
(1875)
Op. 12
Les Djinns
Murs, villeEt port,AsileDe mort,Mer griseOù briseLa briseTout dort.Dans la plaineNaît un bruit.C'est l'haleineDe la nuit.Elle brameComme une âmeQu'une flammeToujours suit.La voix plus hauteSemble un grelot.D'un nain qui sauteC'est le galop.Il fuit, s'élance,Puis en cadenceSur un pied danseAu bout d'un flot.La rumeur approche,L'écho la redit.C'est comme la clocheD'un couvent maudit,Comme un bruit de fouleQui tonne et qui rouleEt tantôt s'écrouleEt tantôt grandit.Dieu! la voix sépulcraleDes Djinns!... - Quel bruit ils font!Fuyons sous la spiraleDe l'escalier profond!Déjà s'éteint ma lampe,Et l'ombre de la rampe..Qui le long du mur rampe,Monte jusqu'au plafond.C'est l'essaim des Djinns qui passe,Et tourbillonne en sifflant.Les ifs, que leur vol fracasse,Craquent comme un pin brûlant.Leur troupeau lourd et rapide,Volant dans l'espace vide,Semble un nuage livideQui porte un éclair au flanc.Ils sont tout près! - Tenons ferméeCette salle ou nous les narguonsQuel bruit dehors! Hideuse arméeDe vampires et de dragons!La poutre du toit descelléePloie ainsi qu'une herbe mouillée,Et la vieille porte rouillée,Tremble, à déraciner ses gonds.Cris de l'enfer! voix qui hurle et qui pleure!L'horrible essaim, poussé par l'aquilon,Sans doute, o ciel! s'abat sur ma demeure.Le mur fléchit sous le noir bataillon.La maison crie et chancelle penchée,Et l'on dirait que, du sol arrachée,Ainsi qu'il chasse une feuille séchée,Le vent la roule avec leur tourbillon!Prophète! Si ta main me sauveDe ces impurs démons des soirs,J'irai prosterner mon front chauveDevant tes sacrés encensoirs!Fais que sur ces portes fidèlesMeure leur souffle d'étincelles,Et qu'en vain l'ongle de leurs ailesGrince et crie à ces vitraux noirs!Ils sont passés! - Leur cohorteS'envole et fuit, et leurs piedsCessent de battre ma porteDe leurs coups multipliés.L'air est plein d'un bruit de chaînes,Et dans les forêts prochainesFrissonnent tous les grands chênes,Sous leur vol de feu pliés!De leurs ailes lointainesLe battement décroît.Si confus dans les plaines,Si faible, que l'on croitOuïr la sauterelleCrier d'une voix grêleOu pétiller la grêleSur le plomb d'un vieux toit.D'étranges syllabesNous viennent encore; - Ainsi, des arabesQuand sonne le cor,Un chant sur la grèvePar instants s'élève,Et l'enfant qui rêveFait des rêves d'or.Les Djinns funèbres,Fils du trépas,Dans les ténèbresPressent leur pas;Leur essaim gronde;Ainsi, profonde,Murmure une ondeQu'on ne voit pas.Ce bruit vagueQui s'endort,C'est la vagueSur le bord;C'est la plaintePresque éteinteD'une saintePour un mort.On douteLa nuit...J'écoute: -Tout fuit,Tout passe;L'espaceEffaceLe bruit.
The Jinn
Walls, townAnd port,RefugeFrom death,Grey seaWhere the windBreaks,All sleep.In the plainA sound is born.It is the breathingOf the night.It roarsLike a soulThat a flamePursues.The higher voiceSeems a shiver.It is the gallopOf a leaping dwarf.He flees, he springs,Then dances rhythmically On one footAt the end of a billow.The murmur draws near,The echo repeats it,It’s like the bellOf a cursed convent,Like the noise of a crowdThat thunders and rollsAnd sometimes crumblesAnd sometimes swells.God! The sepulchral voicesOf the Jinn! The noise they make!We flee down the longSpiral staircase!My lamp has already died,And the shadow of the ramp,Which crawls along the wall,Ascends to the ceiling.It’s the swarming Jinn passing by,Whirling and hissing,Yew trees, stirred by their flight, Crackle like burning pine.Their herd, heavy and swift,Flying in the void,Seems like a livid cloud,Ringed with lightning.They are so near! – Let us keep closedThis room where we flout them.What a din outside! Hideous armyOf vampires and dragons!The beam of the crumbling ceilingSags like drenched grass,And the old rusted doorTrembles, as though its hinges would snap.Cries from hell! A voice that roars and weeps!The horrible swarm, driven by the north wind, Must now, O heavens, be assailing my home!The walls sag beneath the black battalion.The house cries out, staggers and lists,As though, ripped from the soil,The wind were rolling and swirling it along,Chasing a desiccated leaf.Prophet, if your hand saves meFrom these impure demons of the night,I would prostrate my bald pateBefore your sacred incense burners!Make their breath of sparksDie on these faithful doors,And make the talons of their wingsScrape and screech in vain at these black windows!They have passed! – Their cohortTakes flight and flees, and their feetCease beating at my doorWith their multiple blows.The air is filled with a sound of chains,And in the nearby forestsAll the great oaks quiver,Bent beneath their fiery flight!The beating of their wingsFades into the distance,So indistinct in the plains,So faint, that you believeYou hear the grasshopperCry with a shrill voiceOr the hail cracklingOn the lead of an old roof.Strange syllablesKeep approaching us,And when the horn sounds,It’s like the chant Of Arabs on the shoreRising up at moments,And the dreaming childDreaming of gold.The funereal Jinn,Threads of deathIn the darkAccelerate their approach;Their swarm snarls;Like the rumblingOf a deep waveOne does not see.This vague soundThat falls asleep,It is the waveOn the rim;It is the moan,Almost extinct,Of a saintFor a death.One doubts The night . . .I listen: -All flees,All fades;SpaceErases Sound.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
"Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style." (Wikipedia)
For more information about the life and work of Gabriel Fauré please see the Wikipedia article here.
See Full Entry
Poet
Victor Marie Hugo was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best-known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry and then from his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). He also produced more than 4,000 drawings, which have since been admired for their beauty, and earned widespread respect as a campaigner for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment.
Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism; his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and the artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon. His legacy has been honoured in many ways, including his portrait being placed on French franc banknotes.
Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
- 12 Oct 2018: Opening Night: A Serenade to Music
-
Les Djinns
The Jinn
If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.
Composer
"Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style." (Wikipedia)
For more information about the life and work of Gabriel Fauré please see the Wikipedia article here.
See Full Entry
Poet
Victor Marie Hugo was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best-known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry and then from his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). He also produced more than 4,000 drawings, which have since been admired for their beauty, and earned widespread respect as a campaigner for social causes such as the abolition of capital punishment.
Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed, and he became a passionate supporter of republicanism; his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and the artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon. His legacy has been honoured in many ways, including his portrait being placed on French franc banknotes.
Taken from Wikipedia. To view the full article, please click here.
See Full Entry
Sorry, no further description available.
Previously performed at:
- 12 Oct 2018: Opening Night: A Serenade to Music