Comment, disaient‑ils

Comment, disaient-ils,
Avec nos nacelles,
Fuir les alguazils?
Ramez, disaient-elles.

Comment, disaient-ils,
Oublier querelles,
Misère et périls?
Dormez, disaient-elles.

Comment, disaient-ils,
Enchanter les belles
Sans philtres subtils?
Aimez, disaient-elles.

by Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885) , "Autre Guitare", from Les Rayons et les Ombres, no. 23, published 1838

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

by Jean Absil (1893-1974) , "Autre guitare"
by Georges Bizet (1838-1875) , "Guitare"
by Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (1849-1895) , no title, from Chansons de Mois.
by Louis Lacombe (1818-1884) , "Guitare"
by Edouard Lalo (1823-1892) , "Guitare"
by Alexandre Charles Lecocq (1832-1918) , "Guitare"
by Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) , "Comment, disaient-ils", S. 276 (1843), also set in German
by Victor Massé (1822-1884) , "Ramez, dormez, aimez!"
by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) , "Guitare", 1886.
by Paul Puget (1848-1917) [pseudonym] , "Comment, disaient-ils"
by Henri Reber (1807-1880) , "Guitare"
by Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829-1894) , "Romance" [voice and piano], note: first published as opus 3 (Moskow, Gresser), but the opus number was reused later
by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) , "Guitare", 1851, published 1870.
by Marcel Trémois , "Guitare", published 1926. [voice and piano]

by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873-1943) , "Oni otvechali", op. 21 no. 4 (1902).

by Franz (Ferencz) Liszt (1811-1886) , "Was tun?", S. 276 (1843), also set in French

ENG English (Faith J. Cormier)
ENG English (Faith J. Cormier)
CHI Chinese (Yen-Chiang Che)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Oni otvechali

Sprosili oni:  ,,Kak v letuchikh chelnakh
Nam beloju chajkoj skol'zit' na volnakh,
Chtob nas storozha nedognali?``
,,Grebite!`` oni otvechali.

Sprosili oni: ,,Kak zabyt', navsegda,
Chto v mire judol'nom jest' bednost', beda,
Chto jest' v njom groza i pechali?``
,,Zasnite!`` oni otvechali.

Sprosili oni: ,,Kak krasavic privlech'
Bez chary: chtob sami na strastnuju rech'
Oni nam v ob"jatija pali?``
,,Ljubite!`` oni otvechali.

Show Cyrillic (Покажите текст в кириллице)
Note on Transliteration

by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (1822-1862)

a text in French by Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885) , "Autre Guitare", from Les Rayons et les Ombres, no. 23, published 1838 ENG CHI

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

by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873-1943) , "Oni otvechali", op. 21 no. 4 (1902).

ENG English (Yuri Mitelman)

Date added to the website: 2003-11-16.