Claude Debussy - Oh, cette pierre est lourde (from Pelléas et Mélisande)

Recorded at the Gustav Mahler Private University of Music in Klagenfurt, Austria in March 2023.
Mentor: prof. Francka Šenk
Piano accompaniment: prof. Eliana Morretti

[@NorbertExler]

Wie immer:
Sehr schön und auch von mir ein Danke für die Lyrics! Jetzt verstehe ich dein Schauspiel viel besser ...
🥰❤‍🩹

[@conradinhawaii7856]

Beautifully sung and performed, draga Mateja, as you always do. 😊💖
And thank you for adding the original French lyrics and English translation. I had tried to find them online earlier, with little success. This is quite a complicated piece, both musically and lyrically, that Mister Debussy has composed for us. I'm sure that you spent quite a bit of time learning it.
Is it still cold and snowy up in Klagenfurt?

[@matejagrasic6488]

Thank you so much, Conrad! 😊 Yes, it is a very complicated piece in many different aspects. No, it is not cold and snowy here anymore - it is getting warmer and the colours of spring are slowly starting to emerge. 😊

[@matejagrasic6488]

YNIOLD
Oh! cette pierre est lourde...
(Oh, but this stone is heavy!)
Elle est plus lourde que moi...
(It is heavier than I…)
Elle est plus lourde que tout le monde.
(It is heavier than the whole earth…)
Elle est plus lourde que tout...
(It is the heaviest thing.)
Je vois ma balle d'or entre le rocher et cette méchante pierre,
(I see my golden ball between the rock and this big naughty old stone,)
et je ne puis pas y atteindre...
(and I am not able to reach it.)
Mon petit bras n'est pas assez long
(My little arm is not long enough,)
et cette pierre ne veut pas être soulevée...
(and this great stone here will not let anybody lift it.)
On dirait qu'elle a des racines dans la terre...
(It is just as if it were rooted in the ground here…)
Oh! oh! j'entends pleurer les moutons...
(Oh! Oh! I hear the weeping of sheep…)
Tiens! Il n'y a plus de soleil...
(Oh! There is no sunshine anymore.)
Ils arrivent les petits moutons; ils arrivent...
(All the little sheep, oh! Here they come! They are coming…)
Il y en a! Il y en a!
(Oh, what a lot! Oh, what a lot!)
Ils ont peur du noir...
(They are scared of the dark…)
Ils se serrent! ils se serrent!
(How they are crowding! How they are crowding!)
Ils pleurent et ils vont vite!
(They are crying, and how they hurry!)
Il y en a qui voudraient prendre à droite...
(And there are some that will keep to the right side…)
Ils voudraient tous aller à droite...
(And now they are all pushing that way…)
Ils ne peuvent pas!
(But they cannot do that…)
Le berger leur jette de la terre...
(Now the shepherd pelts them with some pebbles…)
Ah! ah! Ils vont passer ici...
(Oh! Oh! Now they are coming this way…)
Je vais les voir de près.
(I will see them up close.)
Comme il y en a!
(What a lot there are!)
Maintenant ils se taisent tous...
(Now at last they are all keeping still…)
Berger! Pourquoi ne parlent-ils plus?
(Shepherd! Why do they not talk anymore?)
Où vont-ils?
(Where are they going?)
Berger? berger? où vont-ils?
(Shepherd? Shepherd? Where are they going?)
Il ne m'entend plus. Ils sont déjà trop loin...
(Oh, now he cannot hear. They are gone too far away…)
Ils ne font plus de bruit...
(They are making no more noise.)
Ce n'est pas le chemin de l'étable...
(They were not on their way to the stable…)
Où vont-ils dormir cette nuit?
(Then where will they sleep for the night?)
Oh! oh! il fait trop noir...
(Oh! Oh! It is so dark!)
Je vais dire quelque chose à quelqu'un...
(I am going to tell someone something.)