Sur l'herbe

L'abbé divague. - Et toi, marquis,
Tu mets de travers ta perruque.
- Ce vieux vin de Chypre est exquis
Moins, [Camargo]1, que votre nuque.

- Ma flamme . . . Do, mi, sol, la, si.
- L'abbé, ta noirceur se dévoile.
- Que je meure, Mesdames, si 
Je ne vous décroche une étoile !

- Je voudrais être petit chien !
Embrassons nos bergères, l'une
Après l'autre. - Messieurs, eh bien ?
Do, mi, sol. - Hé ! bonsoir, la Lune !

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Camargo was an eighteenth-century ballerina.

Authorship

by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) , "Sur l'herbe", from Fêtes galantes, no. 3, published 1869

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Raoul Laparra (1876-1943) , "Sur l'herbe", published 1927 [voice and piano], from Pastels, suite de mélodies sur des Fétes galantes, no. 3, Paris, Gallet
by Lucien Legras , "Sur l'herbe", published [1954] [voice and piano], Paris, L. Legras
by Fernand Ochsé (1879-1945) , "Sur l'herbe", 1908, published 1913 [voice and piano], from Le Parc, no. 2, Berlin, Fürstner
by Gustave Oudot , "Sur l'herbe", [1948]. [voice and piano]
by Willem Pijper (1894-1947) , "Sur l'herbe", 1916, published 1947 [mezzo-soprano and piano or orchestra], from Fêtes galantes, no. 2, Amsterdam, Donemus
by Irena Regina Poldowski, née Wieniawski (1880-1932) , "Sur l'herbe", 1913, published 1918 [voice and piano], Paris, Rœder
by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) , "Sur l'herbe", published 1904 [voice and piano], from the collection Douze chants avec accompagnement de piano, no. 12, Paris, Durand
by Aimée Strohl, dit Rita Strohl (1865-1941) , "Sur l'herbe", [1897]. [voice and piano]

ENG English (Winifred Radford) , "On the grass", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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