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Nicolette, à la vesprée, S'allait promener au pré, Cueillir la pâquerette, la jonquille et le muguet, Toute sautillante, toute guillerette, Lorgnant ci, là de tous les côtés. Rencontra vieux loup grognant, Tout hérissé, l'œil brillant; Hé là! ma Nicolette, viens tu pas chez Mère Grand? A perte d'haleine, s'enfuit Nicolette, Laissant là cornette et socques blancs. Rencontra page joli, Chausses bleues et pourpoint gris, "Hé là! ma Nicolette, veux tu pas d'un doux ami? Sage, s'en retourna, très lentement, le cœur bien marri. Rencontra seigneur chenu, Tors, laid, puant et ventru "Hé là! ma Nicolette, veux tu pas tous ces écus? Vite fut en ses bras, bonne Nicolette Jamais au pré n'est plus revenue.
Text Authorship:
- by Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), "Nicolette", M. 69 no. 1 (1914-1915), published 1916 [ SATB chorus ], from Trois chansons, no. 1, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 2 times]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Nicolette", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nicolette", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Auditorium du Louvre
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 114
Nicolette, at twilight, Went for a walk through the fields, To pick daisies, daffodils, and lilies of the valley. Skipping around, completely jolly, Spying here, there, and everywhere. She met an old, growling wolf, On alert, eyes a-sparkle: "Hey there! Nicolette, my dear, won't you come to Grandmother's house?" Out of breath, Nicolette fled, Leaving behind her cornette and white clogs. She met a cute page, Blue shoes and gray doublet: "Hey there! Nicolette dear, wouldn't you like a sweetheart?" Wisely, she turned 'round, poor Nicolette, very slowly, with a contrite heart. She met an old gentleman, Twisted, ugly, smelly and pot-bellied: "Hey there! Nicolette dear, don't you want all this money?" She ran straight into his arms, good Nicolette, Never to return to the fields again.
Translator's notes
Stanza 1, Line 1 ("twilight"): vesprée is an archaic spelling of vêprée, meaning at the time of evening (Catholic) vespers, very late afternoon, just before sunset
Stanza 1, Line 4 ("daffodil"): The American Daffodil Society classes all daffodils, hyacinths, and jonquils as daffodils, but the British prefer the specific name jonquil, or rush daffodil.
Stanza 1, Line 4 ("lilies of the valley"): muguet is more general in archaic French, and could mean bluebells and other similar flowers as well.
Stanza 1, Line 6 ("Spying"): lorgner means to look at using a monocle or lorgnette, to covet, leer, or ogle
Stanza 2, Line 2 ("On alert"): hérisser means to bristle, ruffle fur, to get somebody's back up
Stanza 2, Line 4 ("Grandmother's house"): Mère-Grand is a humourous reversal of grand-mère, quoting from the original Charles Perrault story "Le petit shaperon rouge," sounding like the wolf doesn't really know her. Perrault follows his story with a clarification that the wolf represents all sorts of predators.
Stanza 2, Line 6 ("cornette"): cornette is a Middle French term for a white cloth headdress won by the Sisters of Charity and other Renaissance French women
Stanza 3, Line 2 ("doublet"): pourpoint refers to a costume covering the body from the neck to just below the belt (dictionary of the Académie Française)
Stanza 4, line 1 ("old gentleman"): chenu is Old French for aged, old person
Stanza 4, Line 2 ("Twisted"): short for torsadée - twisted
Stanza 4, Line 4 ("money"): an écu is a pre-revolutionary French coin related to the scudo/escudo, worth roughly 20 Euros (modern equivalent); the word écus (modern colloquial) means lots of money, as 19th-century French 5-franc silver coins were still called écus by the French
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2013 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
This text was added to the website: 2013-06-10
Line count: 24
Word count: 127